Wait for Me: Searching
by Fire and Sand
Summary: No matter what, Sasuke wants to be with Naruto but Naruto can't live knowing he's standing between Sasuke and his dreams. For Sasuke, he'll do anything. Even die. Now, Sakura, Naruto and Sasuke are back where they were a year ago. But will they die again?
1. Prologue: Haunted Fates

Fire: Welcome to _Wait for Me: Searching,_ the third book in the Wait for Me series. And Sasuke's back! Yay!

Sasuke: What are you so happy about? Naruto's still dead!

Fire: But you still love him. That's so sweet…! XD

Sasuke: …

Naruto: Why don't I get any lines? I can still talk!

Fire: Sakura didn't give you permission to talk.

Naruto: Sakura's not my boss!

Sasuke: (hugs Naruto) Yeah! I am!

Fire: (sweats) Uh…yeah…

Kakashi: (turns around and walks away) …

Sakura: (shouting) You can't hug Naruto! You're supposed to hug me! You're supposed to be with me! I'm the one who brought you back! Naruto's dead!

Fire: (sweats some more) …

Sasuke: Just because Naruto's dead doesn't mean that I can't still love him.

Fire: (turns nervously to the audience) Well…I don't think we want to know what else Sasuke has to say. Just read the story.

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Warning: All Japanese terms are used for artistic purposes. If you are confused about any terms used in this story, please go to my profile for the complete glossary.

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Warning: This story is rated T for violence, lots and lots of blood, and highly suggestive content. I would prefer readers to be at least 15 to 16 years old because anyone younger might not be able to handle it. I've officially crossed into the world of "fiction" (see your local library) with this fanfic, so expect harsh reality. The easy existence that I created in the prequel and in the first book will be hinted at in this book, but expect the characters to really suffer. Hopefully, you can handle the harsher content; otherwise, skip the chapter when it comes up. I'll be repeating this warning when it does.

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Disclaimer: Waah! All those fillers are pulling down my Naruto stocks! Kishimoto-sensei, do something about it! They're butchering your work! And yes, Naruto belongs to Kishimoto-sensei, the older brother, not the younger brother. In other words, it belongs to Masashi-sensei not Seishi-sensei. Seishi-sensei owns 666Satan.

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**Wait for Me: Searching**

**A Fire Project**

**Prologue: Haunted Fates**

**N**aruto was dead. There were many people who couldn't accept that he was dead, but only one actually stepped forwards and did something about it–Uchiha Sasuke–and that was the problem. Tsunade had never come across this problem before. She didn't know what to do.

She wanted to punish him. She wanted to make sure that he never did it again. But there _was_ no reason for him to do it again! He already had what he wanted.

The blond woman should have known that something like this would happen...and that Sasuke would be in the middle of it. When he returned from Otogakure no Sato, she knew that she should have kept those ANBU around him instead of letting him go after a few weeks.

But there was nothing she could have done. He seemed trustworthy at the time. He was being such a model shinobi, and she needed the ANBU for more difficult tasks that had arisen since the damiyo of Hi no Kuni and their neighbouring countries began doubting the strength of Konoha-nin.

And when the Uchiha died five months ago, she had thought she didn't have to worry about the dark-haired shinobi anymore. The little Orochimaru who had caught hold of her attention from the first time she saw him was gone. There was no more need to worry.

Then Sakura disappeared. And when they found her, she was in Oto no Sato.

Tsunade had a horrible feeling when she heard the news. She had thought that she had heard wrong. The note left for them when Sakura left had said nothing about Otogakure. She just said that she would be fine. It was naivety, too much trust within Tsunade that made her think Sakura had left for a normal life.

She was wrong.

With annoyed hands, the woman tossed the reports across the room before flopping onto her desk, her arms falling over uncomfortable corners. Her mind was too occupied with worries over the last week since Sakura was released from the hospital to really care about the pain. The pink-haired girl was in a horrible state when she was brought back from Oto no Sato, and now, she wouldn't even continue the life of a shinobi.

However, her worries were dwelling more on Sasuke. He was still a shinobi...at least for now. And Tsunade just couldn't push herself to trust him. He was too much like Orochimaru. With unhalting hands, he had taken the life of another to resurrect Naruto from the dead. She had to wonder what was going through Orochimaru's mind when he taught that technique to the dark-haired boy. But it wasn't as if she could just ask. Orochimaru was dead, and not even his hitokugutsu could answer her.

Sasori had killed him. Tsunade didn't even know if she could trust that Sakura could keep her summoned servant under control. She wasn't even sure if _servant _was the right term for it. He could just be pretending to obey her. But at the moment, she didn't care as long as he wasn't causing any real trouble. She was still wondering what to do about Sasuke.

But even as she looked down at her desk, she knew. There was only one real punishment for him, but she could never really do anything to Naruto.

'_A transfer request from Uchiha Sasuke?' _ Tsunade looked at the form that caught her hand as it scraped against the ground. She just wasn't sure if she could allow that.

**End Prologue**

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Fire's babbling:

Fire: As usual, the English tidbits begin in the first chapter. If you liked the prologue, go on ahead to the first chapter!

Sasuke: Read it or die!

Naruto: Why do you always have to be so mean?

Sasuke: Urusai!

Fire: Just go to the next chapter. I'm sure you don't want to hear us bicker.

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	2. One: Disparity Heavier than Pain

Fire: Hey, everyone came back!

Sasuke: So?

Fire: That means they actually want to read the story!

Kakashi: And?

Fire: That's great!

Sasuke: You're being overenthusiastic. Now, get on with the story.

Fire: Well, it's the first chapter, so no reviews yet. But remember to review at the end of the chapter. I want to know what you think!

Sasuke: Now tell them the other thing.

Fire: Stop ordering me around! (turns to the audience) There is a multi-pairing for Sakura. That means that if you want to see it, I can put it in, even if it's crazy. As long as the characters aren't already dead, I can use it. So, no Kisa(me)Saku, ItaSaku, OroSaku, KabutoSaku…hmm…who else is dead?

Sasori: I'm alive! Vote for me!

Itachi: Vote for me anyway. Fire and Sasuke can still bring me back if they really try.

Sasuke: I'll just kill you again.

Itachi: …

Fire: And Deidara's in this fic so gomen nasai if you think DeidaraSaku is a little weird. I hint at that a little later on and if you want to see those two paired up, I can do that too. (smiles)

Deidara: Nani!

Fire: Don't worry! You're a jerk so it probably won't work out.

Sakura: (looks at Deidara) Eww!

Deidara: Hey! I'm cute, yeah!

Fire: And no TobiSaku, SasuSaku or NaruSaku. This is a SasuNaru series and they're paired up with each other. As for Tobi, he's an antagonist in this story, so that is a bad idea. If you want the Akatsuki leader to pair up with Sakura, that could be a little too difficult, he's not playing a very major role.

Kakashi: Ahem! (points to self)

Fire: Oh yeah! This is a KakaSaku story so there will be a lot of that in here. If you thought otherwise, gomen nasai! That's already a decided pairing, but I can add more! The current standing in the polls are Kakashi and Sasori either way!

Sasuke: You're crazy. Stop talking and go on with the story!

Fire: One last thing! I changed styles again for this book. Tell me what you think. The thoughts at the beginning of each chapter are supposed to be ambiguous but I'd like to know who you thought it was.

Kakashi: (rushes up before Fire can speak again) I've got the first chapter. (pulls up the first chapter)

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Disclaimer: I already said I don't own Naruto, but if you know anyone who works for Viz or live near Viz, tell them to stop trying to drag down my Naruto stocks! I know you know what I mean! I'm not repeating the disclaimer for this story, so don't yell at me if you forget that I'm not Masashi-sensei. I'm Fire no Kumo! Don't confuse me with that man!

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Disclaimer: The verb "to shunshin" and all forms of conjugation (ie. I shunshin, you shunshin, he/she/it shunshins, etc. as well as shunshin-ing and shunshin-ed) were developed by and belong to Fire. If you want to use it, please ask for permission through PM and a full guide to the verb will be sent to you. If you don't know what a verb is, look it up or ask for an explanation. I'll be happy to explain it.

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Disclaimer: The phrase "my dobe", "his dobe" and any combination of the possessive pronoun with the word "dobe" were developed by and belong to Fire. Please ask permission through PM before borrowing these phrases. I'll lend them to you free of charge!

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Warning: Japanese foods mentioned in this story are considered Japanese terms. If you don't know what these foods are, go to the glossary in my profile page for a brief definition or search on net. But questions about them are welcome.

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Warning: I use "yeah" as opposed to "hmm" for Deidara. If you happen to find that annoying, please get over it before you read my story. I don't want complaints about that. You've been warned! Anything else that annoys you, you can complain about.

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Warning: All previous warnings and disclaimers apply to all chapters. Don't tell me I didn't warn you. Have a nice day! (happy face; whispers to Sasuke) Why do I have to use a happy face! I'm never listening to you again!

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**Chapter 1: Disparity Heavier than Pain**

'_**I**'ve returned, but where are you? This place that has changed since the last time we were here... You left, and now I'm alone. Such selfishness...but I had expected it. I knew you wouldn't be here waiting for me. I just never thought it would end like this. I don't want it to end like this. So, come back to me. Let me stay. Just a little while is enough. As long as you're by my side, it is enough.'_

**T**he same sounds that used to fill the streets of Konoha were still there. The same sights that used to come from every direction was still there. The same smells that used to come from the combini and restaurants were still there. It seemed as if the only thing different in Konoha was himself.

Sasuke felt strange. He shouldn't be there. He was dead. He remembered dying. He remembered the pain of losing his arm, the blood that drenched his body, his blood and his brother's blood covering himself. The nightmares that haunted his sleep wouldn't allow him to forget it.

But he didn't regret being back. He had to keep his promise to Naruto. _'It's only going to be for a little while... I'll be back soon. Just...wait for me.'_ He had returned...like he said he would.

"Naruto, I'm back."

It only took a moment before Sasuke felt stupid for saying that aloud. He took a deep breath and continued down the street. Konoha was still the same. Everyone could live without him. He wasn't expecting anything different. It was just painful knowing that Naruto wasn't really here waiting for him.

Naruto was the only one who couldn't live without him.

"Baka." He smiled sadly to himself, his eyes fixed on the ground where he could ignore the ice that was slowly freezing him from the inside...because it was true.

"You sound stupid."

Sasuke jumped, his eyes turning to see Naruto staring at him, his pale blue eyes discolored by the effects of Edo Tensei. And he couldn't help smirking at the comment.

If he hadn't wanted to hear it, Naruto wouldn't have said it. Even without the fuda in his head, the summoning still listened to him and did his bidding. Even if the summoning had some freedom, he could still hear Sasuke's mind. He couldn't help thinking that he was imposing on Naruto, that it wasn't really Naruto's words.

But those words still made him happy. For a moment, he could forget that Naruto was dead.

"Sakura-chan's shift is almost over. Hayaku! Hayaku! Sasuke!" Naruto said with the same impatience that he always exhibited over the pink-haired girl.

It was amazing that he could still think of her when Sasuke was standing there. But Sasuke didn't want to crush those thoughts, even if it annoyed him. Even if he was tempted to do it, he couldn't do it. If he destroyed those thoughts, this blond summoning wouldn't be Naruto anymore, and he couldn't do that.

"I want to walk her home, Sasuke!" Naruto insisted, grabbing Sasuke's hand with an almost unnoticed cloud of ash–Sasuke was the only one who noticed–and dragging the dark-haired boy after him. It was hard to resist.

Sasuke came to the gates of Konoha Hospital. This was where Sakura ended up after her time in Oto no Sato. She didn't want to be a shinobi anymore, but she wasn't going to forsake her medical talents. She never really explained it to them, but she said this could be a much better career path than–

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura called out in her cheerful tones as she walked out, her eyes catching on the unmistakable pair. They came to get her almost everyday. "Naruto!" She didn't want them to miss her. If he had the chance, she knew that Sasuke would leave her standing at the gates like an idiot.

It had taken the persuading of the better part of a month, but she had managed to get Sasuke away from his dominating thoughts of Naruto. She knew that he was still thinking about him, but at least he was acting more like himself, like the Sasuke she remembered from three years ago.

"Irassharu!" She grabbed Sasuke's hand and pulled him after her. At least for now, she wanted to pretend that Sasuke was hers. She wanted to remember the hope she bore before Naruto took him away. She wanted to pretend that she could still have him, even though deep within her heart, she knew already that he would never love her...even though deep in her heart, she knew that she had already let go of him.

Sasuke stumbled at her side, his eyes trailing on the blond who walked calmly to Sakura's left. He could see what the pink-haired girl was doing. She wasn't that adept at hiding her true emotions. The desperation in her heart shone obviously in the winter daylight. She was grasping at empty emotions in an attempt to achieve normalcy.

But it wasn't going to work. He had killed Naruto, even if it was by accident, and he wasn't going to allow himself to forget it. That was why he must bring Naruto back. Really bring him back! He couldn't live if Naruto didn't come back. Even if he had to kill everyone in Konoha, he would bring him back.

Without Naruto, there was no normalcy.

However, he could never say it to Sakura. She had been waiting too, and that smiling face made him feel that maybe he could get through this...because Naruto was gone, and it was going to be another long ordeal to bring back the entirety of his soul. The false happiness of his teammate was his only visible chance of forming a new life without the blond shinobi.

That was why he had to reject it.

His thoughts were too much like those of Orochimaru. He knew that it was like the dead Sannin. Killing everyone in Konoha...that wasn't something he was conscious about before...although he now remembered thinking it many times. Even if he had to kill everyone in Konoha, he would kill his brother. That was what he had thought long ago, but it was different now. This was different. He really would do it for Naruto.

"I'm going home." Sasuke pulled his arm forcefully away from the girl and turned into a side street. They were close enough to Sakura's house without his feeling like a heartless monster and without Naruto complaining to him about being mean. Even if there was nothing to do there but stare at Naruto or at scrolls of information that couldn't help him create a live person, he just wanted to go home and be alone. He just couldn't continue the illusion for Sakura any longer.

"Ja, Sakura-chan!" Naruto shouted, his enthusiasm still apparent even though she had ignored him. "Sasuke, matte!" And he ran after the dark-haired boy.

**K**akashi's fingers twisted around the paper in his hands. He had read it over and over again, the copy of the resignation letter given to Tsunade, the letter that ended Sakura's career as a shinobi. It had been over a month, and he still couldn't forget it. _'Sayonara, Kakashi-sensei.'_ He had thought she was kidding. She couldn't have been serious!

But after a month, she still refused to return, and Sasuke hadn't returned either. As for Naruto, he couldn't return. There was no one left on his team.

He was alone again.

He had thought about it many times, but he couldn't bring himself to go and ask her. Did she really mean what she had said? Did she really mean what she had written? She could still return! He could convince Tsunade to allow Sasuke to join their team again, even if she still couldn't trust high-ranking missions to him yet. That was one of the reasons why Kakashi wasn't taking missions. He needed his team. Without his team, he couldn't bring himself to do it.

But he couldn't go to her. He had gone into that hospital so many times, asking the nurse at reception for Sakura's whereabouts even though he already knew where she was. He was just stalling. He could never bring his body to drag him there. He already knew what would happen.

She would decline with a smile on her face, even though her eyes reflected the broken girl that called out to him. Ghosts who blamed her for their deaths lived vividly in her mind, clinging to her, dragging her into a lonely void. Only darkness surrounded her, and she wouldn't allow him to pull her out.

'_But this time is different. This time, I will go to her.'_ Kakashi's mind refused to believe that she would turn him down. But deep down, he knew that she would. _'Just go!'_

But he couldn't move. She lived in a world outside his own now.

'_No! I have to do it!'_

Lee had tried. He remembered. He could still remember the green-clad chuunin's words to her as he stood there listening.

_Lee stood in the middle of the empty surgery room. The patient who was here a moment ago was gone, recovering safely thanks to Sakura. But she was always amazing. Lee had never doubted that Sakura was an amazing woman._

"_Sakura-san–"_

"_Lee-san, don't try to stop me." Sakura already knew what he was going to say._

"_Why! Why won't you come back, Sakura-san?" His hand reached out and turned the girl to him, her hands still beneath the running water of the sink. "You don't run. Sakura-san doesn't run away from her problems."_

"_Lee-san, you're not me!" Sakura pulled herself away, her eyes trailing to Kakashi at the door. If she tried to run, he would catch her, and she knew that. "I can't." She turned from the masked man, her voice breaking softly._

"_Why? Give me a reason and I'll leave you alone. Sakura-san, you wanted to be a kunoichi, didn't you? You wanted to–"_

"_I just can't!" She yelled at Lee, her wide aqua-green eyes pulsing before she ran, her hands pushing Kakashi out of the way before he could even take hold of her._

Those were Lee's words. Why. It was a simple word, but Kakashi wanted to know as well. She had given him explanations. _'My passion has died.'_ She needed a change. She had said that. But it wasn't enough!

Kakashi had to know more. He wanted to know why. He _needed_ to know why.

"Sakura..." He never knew that her leaving could affect him so much.

'_Go now!'_

And this time, he actually listened to himself.

**S**ome things never changed, no matter where he was. Sasori realized it as he walked after Sakura, even though no one but Sakura knew that he was following her. Even in this disgusting human body, his stealth was still formidable.

He had never been in this place before: Konohagakure no Sato. He had never wanted to see it, the home of the shinobi who had killed his parents, his parents' colleagues and those colleagues' colleagues. He had never had an interest in any place other than...no interest in any place really.

But he couldn't leave Sakura, especially after she had summoned him, and they killed Orochimaru, and she had given him the Sannin as a hitokugutsu gift. And he had helped her so much.

There was no emotional attachment. He didn't want anyone to think that he had grown an affection for the pink-haired girl. He just couldn't leave her when...

...she wouldn't allow him to leave.

She had summoned him with Edo Tensei. She was his master and he had to obey her; that was what she said. Not to mention that she didn't want to risk his joining Akatsuki again, although Sasori never had any intention of going back to Akatsuki. Once was enough for a lifetime. He could distinctly feel how much she was opposed to it and that point of view was seeping into his body. Besides, he was already dead. That should be enough to leave the organization.

And it was more fun annoying the girl who had sealed him than killing random people for Akatsuki.

But back to the topic at hand. There were some things that never changed, no matter where he was, and even in Konoha, he could see it. There were people following Sakura around.

They weren't anyone dangerous. There were strong chakra amongst the group, even though they were suppressing it expertly–it was hard to hide chakra from an S-ranked criminal–but there was no killer intent, and even if there was, he could see exactly how many there were and where they were all hiding.

And there were ANBU as well.

'_That's unusual.'_ Sasori had to note that. ANBU never followed Sakura around before, and he had to wonder about it...until they stopped Sakura to speak with her. She laughed for a moment before turning to look directly at Sasori. She knew exactly where he was, even though he was in hiding.

"Sasori, come here. I want you to hear this." Her face beamed with hidden laughter. She was going to burst at any moment.

The puppeteer walked toward Sakura, noting the slight rise in killing intent, although it was being clumsily suppressed. "Yes, Sakura?" Another slight rise in killing intent, but it still wasn't enough to make him change his mind and call her Sakura-sama like she told him to. No matter what, he refused to acknowledge that this girl–someone less than half his age–was his master. It should be the other way around!

"Sasori, do you..." She stifled a laugh. "Do you want to..." She stopped, her hand pressing against her aching sides. The idea was just too ridiculous for her to say aloud. But she finally calmed herself enough to say the last three words. "...join the ANBU?"

It wasn't the first time they had asked, so Sasori couldn't see why it was so funny. "No." His answer was simple. It was the same answer that he always gave. He would never want to join the shinobi force of the village that destroyed his life. If it wasn't for Konoha, he wouldn't have become who he was. Konoha had killed his parents. Konoha had destroyed his childhood. Konoha had set him into the life he led until his death.

"Th-there's...your answer," Sakura said before falling against her summoned servant in an effort to keep herself on her feet. She could only laugh as the ANBU walked away–a dark expression of hatred on their faces at her mocking laughter–but as soon as they were gone, her face was sullen once more, the same sullen expression that was there all day, and the day before, and the day before that.

Then, she was eerily calm.

"Sasuke-kun went home." Her whispered words flew softly into the air and were taken by the wind as easily as a leaf from its fall. "And Kakashi-sensei's still following me around." It was too difficult not to talk to the masked man. The longing that flew at her from the jounin was too obvious. She almost ran to him today, when Sasuke left. "Now Tsunade-shishou is concerned about me." That was why the Hokage asked Sasori to be an ANBU. Sakura knew that Tsunade wouldn't have a legitimate reason for that proposal. She still didn't trust Sasori. The blond woman just wanted someone to draw Sakura back to the life of a shinobi.

Why couldn't they just leave her alone? Why couldn't they just accept that she didn't want to be

a kunoichi anymore? Why couldn't she not be a field medic anymore? Why couldn't she just be herself and not have to worry about constant death and danger?

She just wanted to be a simple medic-nin stationed at the hospital, where she could whither away and die in her self-exiled sorrow.

"A kunoichi is a kunoichi. It doesn't make a difference if she's in the middle of a desert or in at the bottom of the sea." Sasori didn't know when he became a babysitter. This wasn't a desirable job for someone like him. What he really wanted–what he couldn't tell Sakura–was that he wanted to leave, and rebuild his puppet army. "It doesn't make you any less of a despicable woman," he said coldly. He could tell that he wasn't being himself, but he still couldn't understand what was making him act this way.

"Urusai, Sasori," Sakura said without a hint of menace as she pulled herself from her headrest. She looked around before stretching her arms. "Get rid of the fanboys for me. I don't want all these stalkers." She had known they were following her the entire time. It wasn't hard to see where they were.

"I already did." Sasori had sent his puppets. There was no need for him to do something that he could send others to do. "Just like a woman to–"

"Sasori, I said urusai, and I mean it." Those words weren't just a command. They were a threat.

The puppetmaster stared at the girl as she walked away, down the wide road which ran through the entirety of Konoha. During the month after leaving the hospital, he had seen more strength from this girl than he had thought possible. Her arms weren't the only part of her that carried strength. He had a reason to fear her. She had already killed him once before.

'_She would make the perfect puppet,' _he thought before he shook the thought away. That was a dangerous thought. He wasn't sure if he wanted to fight her again, especially since he didn't have his puppet body anymore.

"You shouldn't talk back to your master."

"You're not my master," Sasori said with the calm apathy that she had come to expect from him. There were some things that never sink in.

First of all, he had insisted that she call him Sasori-sama. It was a small thing, but he was still a powerful puppeteer and poisonmaster. The least she could do was bestow him that respect. However, she refused to give him a simple honorific much less the exulted honorific of sama.

Next, she wasn't his master and Sasori refused to call her Sakura-sama. He guessed her suggestion could be because he tried to make her call him Sasori-sama, but it also had to do with the fact that she had resurrected him through Edo Tensei.

But that didn't make her his master!

He wasn't dead, so the technique was incomplete, not the same as it would have been for someone else. He was only sealed. Sealed! That meant that as soon as she pulled his soul out off his puppet body, he died. She had killed him. And that was the main reason why he wouldn't call her master. He refused to call the person who had killed him master.

"Are you planning to follow her all day?" Sasori spoke without turning around. That chakra...it could only belong to one person.

"I'm not going to give up." The shinobi watched the puppetmaster cooly. But he was always cool. "Sakura is too talented to let go this easily."

"Is that really the reason? Aren't you just being stubborn?" Sasori turned to look at the grey-haired man. "You're not acting like a bastard today."

Kakashi looked directly at the puppetmaster. He didn't trust Sasori, even if Sakura seemed to trust him enough. To Kakashi, this was still the S-ranked criminal who had attacked him only a year and a few months ago.

"She doesn't want to see you, Copy Ninja. You should respect her wishes and leave her alone." Sasori's words still held the same superiority that it always had, even if he wasn't telling the truth. Sakura wanted to see him. He had felt it every time she felt Kakashi's presence. She wanted to run to him and tell him that she was kidding, that she wanted him to stop sulking, but she was too stubborn to do it. Her mind still held herself back. And if that was what she wanted, he wasn't going to let Kakashi through. "She doesn't want to be a shinobi anymore." A half-truth. Sakura was still undecided on that matter.

But he didn't have to worry about this man. If what Sasori had said was the truth, Kakashi wouldn't invade Sakura's privacy to drag her back to a path she didn't want.

Kakashi glared at the Suna-nin, his mouth opening to retort his remark when Sasori shunshin-ed away, leaving only a swirl of sand to mark his departure. The redhead was gone.

Sasori was somewhat glad that Sakura was calling him. He had wanted to yell at Kakashi more, taunt him more. It was fun to see the face of a Hatake contorted in pain. A Hatake had killed his father. Now, he just wanted to hurt him.

And that would have probably gotten him in trouble

"Sasori," Sakura said as she handed a list to the shinobi. "We need to buy a few things for dinner. What do you want to eat?"

"Kunoichi with rice," Sasori mumbled under his breath. "An arm, maybe." _'Kuso. I'm turning into Zetsu.' _But he couldn't stop himself. He had to gain some control over their conversation, especially after Kakashi had annoyed him so thoroughly. "Or maybe a brea–"

"Hentai." Sakura smacked him with full anger, sending him flying across the street.

"I meant–" Sasori sighed as he saw the girl storm angrily through the crowd. _'It was a joke!'_

"I know what you meant." For a moment, an image of Sasori's mangled body flashed into his mind. She was really angry. "You're carrying everything by hand!" And she meant it.

**I**t took a while. It wasn't exactly easy considering it wasn't a common event. But he had confirmed it. The Kyuubi was back. Zetsu was happy to realize that it was the truth. The dead jinchuuriki was back.

There were a few members who couldn't believe it. It was impossible to resurrect a jinchuuriki. That was what they had all thought. That was what Orochimaru had told them when he was still in the organization.

But they couldn't deny that the jinchuuriki was really back. Zetsu had visual confirmation in Konoha.

"I'll get him. Tobi will capture the jinchuuriki. And you will let me join?"

"No." Deidara was adamant from his side of the cave, even if his voice was calm. "He has done nothing to deserve it. We should kill him," he gestured at Tobi, "and get the jinchuuriki back on our own, yeah." He looked around at his companions, his eyes darkening with persistence. "We don't have to give him a chance he hasn't earned."

"We have four openings," Zetsu said as he held up Orochimaru's ring. He had taken it from the compound at Oto no Sato where the Sannin's true body still lay at the time of his death. It wasn't difficult for the Kusa-nin to get it after everyone had died. "With Orochimaru gone, that makes four." Itachi, Kisame, Sasori, and Orochimaru were four. "We should give him a chance to prove himself."

"We should kill him." The words came from far above, where the tallest of their group loomed over them. "He's a liability."

"There are also rumours of Akasuna no Sasori's return." The leader's musing voice silenced anyone who had wanted to speak out against the former comment.

"Then why hasn't he returned?" The remainder of Akatsuki murmured to each other at the sudden news. "Has he betrayed us?"

"Traitor!"

"He should have returned by now."

"Bring back the jinchuuriki and the traitor's head, and we will consider your application." The leader's words were calm and unmistakably directed at Tobi as if it really was a simple application, as if they were just a simple restaurant and Tobi was applying to be nothing more than a busboy.

"Tobi won't fail."

"If you fail, you die," were the leader's final words before all the shadows of Akatsuki vanished, leaving only Zetsu and Tobi standing in the cave. Their leader had spoken. There was no going back now.

"Consider," Zetsu said slowly, repeating the leader's word to Tobi before turning away from his subordinate. "If you don't bring back the head of Akasuna no Sasori, he will kill you anyway."

**T**he house was empty, but Sasuke was used to it. It didn't matter that the house was empty. He had Naruto and that was enough until he returned his freedom to him. For now, he didn't care. "I'm home," Sasuke said ritualistically as he walked into the foyer, his sandals slipping from his feet. He still hadn't stopped saying it even though no one had lived there for almost ten years. There was still no reply.

'_Naruto...'_ Sasuke turned to the blond shinobi who ran into the house ahead of Sasuke. He kept forgetting that he had never lived in a house before. It was a new experience to Naruto. But at least, Sasuke had no way of limiting his behaviour. It was genuinely Naruto.

"I'm unpacking the rest of my things!" Naruto shouted from the other room. He didn't have a lot of things, but even after a month, he hadn't finished unpacking. "Where can I put my ramen?" He turned to Sasuke as soon as the dark-haired boy walked into the living room.

Sasuke sighed. He had hoped that Tsunade had forgotten about his many boxes of ramen. "In the kitchen," he said defeatedly. He hated ramen. He wished he didn't have to live with it.

"So," Naruto said slowly as he walked from where closed boxes of his belongings still sat to the kitchen. He had already moved a lot of things into the other rooms, but living in a house just seemed excessive to him. "What did Tsunade-obaachan say?"

"About what?" Sasuke had no idea what Naruto was talking about.

"Your transfer," Naruto said as he stacked five large boxes of ramen in a corner of the room. It was already crowded enough with the kotatsu in the middle of the room, but it was even more crowded with the extra boxes. "What did she say?"

"Nothing." Tsunade hadn't replied yet.

"That was a week ago! I'm going to talk to her."

"Naruto!" Sasuke grabbed the blond's arm before he could run out.

And the arm broke in his tight grasp. "Sasuke!" Powdery ash dropped to the ground, his arm lying atop a grey pile. "You broke off my arm!"

"It's not my fault," Sasuke said as he grabbed the broom. "Do you have to run and yell at her everyday?" Naruto kept suggesting it. He didn't need Naruto to do things for him!

"No," Naruto said submissively. That was Sasuke imposing his will on him again.

Sasuke sighed as he walked to Naruto, the broom dropping from his hands. It was almost time and he didn't want to be angry with him before he left again. "Naruto," he whispered as he wrapped his arms around the blond boy, his head resting on the shoulder of his dobe. "Gomen." He knew what he was doing, but he couldn't stop himself. It was impossible to stop his thoughts, his wants and his expectations.

"Sasuke..." Naruto's heart pounded in his chest, his vision dizzying at the dark-haired boy's touch. Then pain rushed through his body. "You're crushing me!"

Sasuke jumped back, his arms releasing its hold as the soft touch of dirt flew over the skin of his arms. "Naruto!" He had forgotten. It was unforgivable, but he had forgotten about Naruto's condition.

The dark-haired boy stared, his black eyes widening as Naruto disintegrated a little further before stabilizing. "It's okay," the jinchuuriki said as his fingers grazed across the surface of his skin, his hand attempting to hold himself together even as ash flew into the air with each breath. "I'm fine." He turned, hiding his decomposing body from Sasuke. "I'll just finish unpacking."

Naruto stumbled out of the kitchen into the hall, his footsteps sounding on the hollow walkway which surrounded the garden as steadily as his fading heartbeat. He had experienced it enough to know that he was dying. It wasn't the first time, but it was still horrific. Panic still rushed through him. His head still pounded from loss of strength.

"Naruto!"

The blond turned, the bright light of the setting sun blinding his sight from the garden for a moment before his gaze focussed on the Uchiha. _'Sasuke...'_ He didn't want Sasuke to see him die. His decaying body scared him enough without that fear reflecting out of those dark eyes. "Sasuke..."

The cold winter wind blew across the barren garden, cutting through Naruto's body before he could say goodbye. Sasuke ran forwards, his hands reaching out to catch the blond as the wind carried his body away. "Kuso!" No matter how many times he saw it, he never got used to it. "Kuso." His fingers closed around the bright orange jacket, the body already gone. "Naruto."

**End Chapter 1**

---------------------------

Fire's English tidbits for those who care:

Here's something I realized while I was looking at the grammar check in word. Pronouns. Everyone knows everything there is to know about pronouns, so I hope I'm not bringing up anything you already know. The grammar check in Microsoft Word doesn't know the difference between reflexive pronouns and intensive pronouns. Both reflexive and intensive pronouns use the same forms: a compound of personal pronouns and _–self_. So, it's herself, himself, yourself, et cetera (etc). The difference is the use of these personal pronouns. Reflexive pronouns are used when the subject and the object are identical in meaning. For example, "Sasuke hurt himself training again." However, intensive pronouns are used to emphasize the nouns or pronouns they follow and are usually written next to them. For example, "Kakashi himself is at fault for letting Sakura go." Both uses are correct but they have completely different meanings. I'm sure everyone already knows what I'm talking about, but if your grammar check marks intensive pronouns as errors, ignore them. I don't even know if an upgrade is possible.

Fire's babbling:

Sasuke: What!

Fire: (confused) What "what"?

Sasuke: Sakura just called me a necrophiliac!

Sakura: You're in love with a corpse! That's what a necrophiliac is!

Naruto: (touches his arm, his chest, his head and face) I don't feel like a corpse.

Sakura: You stay out of this!

Sasuke: Jealous much?

Fire: Um...we're not here to argue.

Sakura: Then what are we here to do? I'm just addressing things that you should change in your stupid story!

Fire: That's Sasuke's part!

Sasuke: Yeah! What are you going to do about it?

Kakashi: (slouching wearily) I need a break.

Fire: Well, send in your reviews. I'm still taking suggestions for who Sakura should end up with. I can add anyone I want to the storyline. The great thing is that it won't change the plotline at all!

Neji: Vote for me.

Fire: I take any and all pairings as long as it's not LeeSaku because I've already decided on the fate of that.

Lee: (crying) It's not good, is it?

Fire: Um…no. Gomen nasai, Lee!

Kakashi: And I'm taking a short vacation for a while, so I won't be coming in for the next few chapters.

Fire: We'll be holding interviews for a substitute, so expect strange people holding the Big Bag of Reviews.

Sasuke: (holds a stack of resumes) Kisame, you didn't apply.

Kisame: That's because I don't want the job.

Sasuke: (pulls out a pen and paper) I'm going to put you down anyway.

Kisame: No!

Fire: Don't force him!

Naruto: When are you going to bring me back to life?

Fire: Um… (looks at Naruto) We'll see. (turns to the audience) He'll return to normal, but it'll take awhile. This is a turbulent story. But send in your reviews! I want to hear what you think no matter how long or short it is. I don't care about length so don't limit yourself. I'll read all of them and reply to all of them. If I don't, you can yell at me.

Sasuke: I already do that.

Kisame: (holds up his hand and nods) Except Fire really doesn't care if you yell or not.

Fire: Sand yells a lot and Gaara's scary. You should try living with that.

Sasuke: Ahem!

Fire: And Sasuke's mean all the time. All I have is you! (hugs Kisame)

Kisame: (groans) Don't hug me.

Fire: Waah! And Kisame doesn't love me either!

Kisame: Don't complain in public.

Fire: Well, ja! I'll see you next chapter if you're still interested in reading this. (waves)

Kisame: I said let go!

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	3. Two: Apprehensive Misery

Fire: Here's the second chapter! (holding up the window)

Sasuke: You're not going to talk about reviews today?

Fire: Ah… (thinks for a moment) Thanks for everyone who voiced their opinion on who Sakura should end up with. The leader in the polls so far is…

Sasori: Me. (smiles for the audience)

Sakura: No! Don't set me up with this freak!

Fire: That's what the people want so far.

Sasori: I'm popular. Deal with it.

Sakura: Shannaro!

Kakashi: Actually, I'm first in the polls.

Sakura: Waah! Why won't they vote for Sasuke-kun?

Sasuke: I have Naruto.

Naruto: (nodding) That's right!

Fire: Well, I like the SasoSaku pairing, so I'm keeping it.

Kakashi: What about me?

Fire: You're in here too. I just need to figure out who Sakura should end up with.

Sasuke: Anyone but me.

Fire: And there's always a chapter I never think is done right. That would be the last chapter, chapter 1. I hate the first half. Personally, I think it's horrible, so I might rewrite it later on. Look out for that notice.

Sasori: (musing) If I end up with Sakura, the first thing I'm going to do is…

Sasuke: …turn her into a puppet.

Sasori: …turn her into a— (glares at Sasuke) Don't steal my lines, gaki!

Kakashi: Sakura should end up with me!

Fire: That won't work. The readers like you as a bachelor. You're… (looks closely at the script) …hot…and they want you for themselves.

Kakashi: (annoyed) That's selfish.

Fire: Well, that's what they want! I don't want people to come chasing after me with kunai and katana just because of that. And… (turns to the audience) …Kakashi's going on a vacation soon so he'll be packing. He'll still be around for the next few chapters, then he's going on a break.

Kakashi: (waves) Hi! A—

Sakura: Don't even say it!

Fire: And this _is_ a KakaSaku, even with the multiple pairings. It's is mainly a KakaSaku and a SasoSaku. Those are my main pairings for Sakura because I like them and that's what the storyline is built around. Without those pairings, this story won't work. Anything extra's just for fun, or because I saw another reason for it. Ask me about it if you come across something you find completely weird, like there's an alien standing in the middle of the Hokage's office.

Sasuke: (imagining a KakaSaku) – –;;

Fire: And I don't like to do ordinary storylines, so any predictions you have on the plotlines are welcome. I'll tell you if you've got it right. But don't say that Kakashi and Sakura are going to frolic in a field of flowers at the end of the story because I don't like endings like that. It's not realistic and I write realistic stories. Did you hear that, Sasuke! Stop imagining it!

Sasuke: I was remembering Diet Soda-san's review.

Fire: Waah! Don't think that we're trying to be mean to you Soda-san! It's just that you review so much that I thought it was time we put you in the actual author's notes!

Kisame: Did anyone ever tell you that you talk too much?

Fire: Yes. In every forum I've signed with.

Kisame: …

Fire: Well, that's it for now. Tell me who you want Sakura to end up with. At the end of the storyline, anyone goes…as long as it makes sense. And I'll find a way for anything to make sense!

Sasuke: (yells into the computer circuits) Load the second chapter!

---------------------------

**Chapter 2: Apprehensive Misery**

'_**I**s it okay for me to love you? I know you don't care about me. The light in your eyes shines for another. The smile on your face laughs for another. But for once, please just exist for me, smile for me and shine for me...even though I know it's impossible. That is why I'm content just to know that you're happy. It is enough as long as I can be the shadow at your side.'_

**S**asori's lodgings weren't free, even though he lived with Sakura. Originally, he had wanted to live alone, to live in one of the many available apartments in Konoha, but Sakura had refused. She wouldn't let him go anywhere else. Her exact words were, "If I leave you alone, you'll just kill everyone and make them into hitokugutsu." If she left him alone–even if it was for a little while–she knew that he would kill someone. He would definitely kill someone eventually. He already had! Sasori wasn't sure if she was right about it, but the desire to make more puppets was there. He only had Orochimaru. That was his only hitokugutsu, so of course he would want more.

But, it wasn't as if the redhead could just pay rent. He didn't have a job, and the Hokage refused to allow him to be a Konoha-nin...not that he wanted to work as a shinobi for this horrible village. And the woman didn't trust him. She probably thought he would betray them, or kill everyone on his team. She wouldn't be giving him anything higher than a degrading D-ranked mission anyway. So, he did even more degrading chores around the Haruno household to appease Sakura's parents.

Then, there was the problem of being incredibly intimidating, so much that no one would hire him. He couldn't even convince Teuchi at Ichiraku Ramen to hire him...not that he wanted to work there either. Everyone had said that they weren't hiring at this time, but he knew better. One woman even fainted out of fear.

And there was another thing stopping him from getting a job. Sakura's parents. They constantly forced work onto him, and Sakura's mind refused disobedience. He doubted that she knew how bossy her mind was. She was probably completely oblivious. Did she really think that he wanted to carry all the groceries and wash the dishes at the end of the day?

He was a great shinobi! He was a powerful S-ranked criminal! He stood on even ground with the Three Legendary Sannin, equal and more powerful than a kage! It was degrading!

The Suna-nin sighed. It was difficult to say that to the girl. She wouldn't listen. All her orders were practically subconscious. _'I need to get away from her!'_ He wanted to leave. He didn't want to be around. _'Why can't I leave?'_ She couldn't also be subconsciously keeping him with her. That was impossible!

Sasori turned on his futon, curling the blanket tightly around him until he had to pull them away or suffocate. He was thinking of Sakura again. That was the single most irritating thing in his mind. He wanted to take a kunai and dig it out. The negative atmosphere that hovered around Sakura had slowly seeped into his mind all day and he wanted to forget it and sleep. Even if he was _evil_ as she had put it, he still needed to sleep!

The girl wasn't angry, or violent–most of the time–but her mood was still negative: sad. And it was strong enough to drag him down with her. She didn't even know that she was doing it! That was the irritating part that nagged at him until morning. It was tiring...

...until she went to sleep. Then, Sasori couldn't sleep. He wanted to grab her and strangle her. He wanted to hear the air wheeze out of her body, to feel her strength vanish beneath his hands. He wanted to kill her and be free, so that he could leave and rebuild his puppet army.

But there was a problem with that. He could fall apart and die, like regular summonings. Sasori was alive now, but he was still a summoning. No matter what he thought or said, or was able to do, he was still a summoning. And he didn't know how far the power of Edo Tensei bound him to the girl.

'_I must think of another way around it!'_

He looked up from the futon to Sakura's sleeping form. The temptation to kill her would be much easier to control if he wasn't sleeping in her room. The paranoid girl actually thought that he would run around and kill people in the middle of the night. Did he look like nocturnal! He had to sleep too!

And even if it was tempting, he refused to move. He had no reason to move. Even though the blankets had fallen from her shoulders and had gathered at her torso, it wasn't that cold in the room. He didn't have to get up. He didn't have to pull it up. He wouldn't be tempted to tighten it into a noose around her slender neck until her head popped off.

Sasori turned away, his face buried in his hand as he pulled the thoughts of murder from his mind. He couldn't do it now. It was too obvious. Everyone would know that it was him. But why did he even care if people knew he had done it or not!

'_Why didn't she let me sleep in the living room?'_ But she had thought he would kill her parents in their sleep. _'Again with that! I need sleep too, kuso!'_

But the main reason he was in Sakura's room was because she felt perfectly safe with him in there, and he knew it. She actually felt safer with him _in_ her room than _outside _her room. And the excuse she had used to convince her parents and Sasori was horribly bad.

She had said there were no other available rooms in the house. It was true. The house wasn't very big. There were only her room and her parents' room, the bathroom and the storage room on the second floor. Then, there were the kitchen, the small living room, the stairs and the entrance hall on the first floor. There was barely enough room for the downstairs bathroom, although they somehow had room for it. She didn't even let her parents bring up the idea of Sasori sleeping in the living room.

And did he mention that Sakura felt perfectly safe with him in _her room_!

That was the most insulting thing Sasori had ever come across. She should at least be a little afraid to allow him in there. If not for the fact that he was an S-ranked _criminal_, then she should at least realize that he was a _man_!

Sasori grumbled into his hand. Sakura always found new ways to insult and annoy him. He wished he really could kill her. But that could just kill _him_, and he wasn't the type of man who liked double suicides.

The redhead sat up, his blanket falling freely from his body as he leaned over the girl. It would be so easy to kill her. One hand on her neck. One hand around the blanket around her neck. One hand pulling the makeshift noose around her neck. Any small thing could kill her.

He leaned back, his eyes fixed on the girl. He couldn't do it...at least not until he knew what killing her would mean. He could just be killing himself. Really. And he really didn't want a double suicide. Especially if it was with Sakura.

But it would be so simple just to kill her!

His fingertips trailed along the girl's arm. Her pale skin was flawless, stretching endlessly from her shoulders to her hands. It would be so simple just to cut her skin from those arms and drain the blood from her body. She would make such a beautiful pupp–

His fingers stopped as his senses heightened. _'Kuso!'_ He ran from the room into the bathroom across the hall as he felt the reaction rush through his body. This was why Sakura should have helped make himself into a puppet again; she had said no. This was why he wanted to be a puppet. Puppets didn't need cold showers in the middle of the evening!

**I**t was late in the day; the sun had set and Naruto wasn't there. That was the problem. He had vanished, disintegrated into the wind, and Sasuke was alone. Again.

He had contemplated bringing him back immediately. In the beginning, when he had first summoned Naruto and he still didn't know what the consequences really were, he had brought Naruto back, and the blond would fall apart almost twice as fast as before. That wasn't what had really happened, but that was what it felt like to Sasuke. He couldn't touch him. He couldn't even hold Naruto's hand without ash flying from his body.

It was too soon. That was why he needed time to think about it. Did he really want to bring Naruto back? Did he really want to go through that again? Did he really want to watch him fall apart right before his eyes?

Two hours drifted by in the early evening, his arms around the orange and black jacket of his dobe. The doors to the walkway and the inner garden of his father's house were wide open, letting in the cool air of early January into the room, and there was only the familiar scent of the dead blond to console him.

Sasuke buried his face in the bright orange jacket, and for a moment, he felt as if Naruto could walk through the door and sit down next to him. _'Naruto.'_ When he wasn't really here, that was when thoughts like that didn't really happen.

They were still unpacking their personal belongings, the things that were placed into storage when they had died. Sasuke was finding things that he didn't realize he owned. And Naruto was equally as surprised to see some of his things. It was something that made Sasuke happy. He really felt as if he could be with Naruto forever.

'_Naruto.'_ If he didn't bring him back, what should he do with Naruto's things?

His mind still brooded even though his heart was light. It was his excuse, so that he didn't feel as if he was growing soft. He didn't need junk like that. Those were Naruto's things. He never needed something as useless as five boxes of unopened cup ramen. Sasuke hated ramen.

But he wouldn't mind holding Naruto's things forever, just because they all belonged to him. It was something he was willing to do, even if it was messy and placed in the most inconvenient areas of the house like the middle of the living room or lining the sides of the hall. It wouldn't diminish the fact that they belonged to him.

And he was _not_ obsessive! He just... _'Kuso! I'm not going to think it!'_ He didn't want to admit it yet. He hadn't told Naruto and he didn't _want _to tell Naruto until he was normal again. Until then, he would set it aside because he had other things to worry about.

He finally felt as if he could move on. He had even applied for a transfer to the Konoha Keimu Butai. The life he had before Itachi's death was gone. He didn't have to be a Konoha shinobi anymore. He could join the Keimu Butai. He could continue his dream from before the massacre. Because he had finally done what he had set out to do. He had killed Itachi.

And he was doing it for Naruto as much as himself. If he continued with missions, if he continued the life he had built out of vengeance, he would only remember the constraining emotions that had bound him to his angry vow. He needed new memories, and Naruto wanted new memories. Sasuke wanted to make new memories with him.

'_Naruto.'_ He pulled his face up, his eyes fixing on the bamboo spring outside his room. The thump as it poured the water out of its container repeated with a soft methodic rhythm that soothed his mind. And the answer came slowly, as it did every evening.

Yes.

He wanted Naruto back. He didn't care that he would have to go through the daily disintegration. He didn't care that Naruto was going to fall apart right before his eyes. No matter how much pain stabbed through his heart, it was nothing. It was nothing compared to the pain of living without him. Without him, the house was too empty. His chest was too empty. He was hollow again, and there was nothing but ice and water where the fire of the Uchiha clan once burned.

Sasuke rose to his feet, the jacket dropping from his hands as he walked into the yard. He was going to summon Naruto again tonight. If only to sleep in his arms, he would bring him back.

**S**akura woke to see Sasori staring at her. She didn't know what it was, but he did it everyday. It was beginning to become annoying. "Nan desu?" She wanted to know what it was. There had to be a reason why he stared at her.

"Nothing," he said. His expression annoyed her on purpose.

The pink-haired girl sat up, her eyes scanning the room. She kept expecting something weird to be there. She didn't know what she really expected; just that Sasori might have done something in the night. Like murder. She kept expecting to see a hitokugutsu or a tied person gagged in the corner.

"Are you looking for something?"

Sakura turned her gaze back to Sasori. _'If he did make a new hitokugutsu, he's probably keeping it in a summoning scroll.'_

"Sakura? Hey!" She leapt on him, searching for his summoning scrolls. "What are you–" She pulled out the scrolls and unfurled them, scanning over the words on each open sprawl of paper. "I didn't make a new hitokugutsu if that's what you're thinking."

"You could be lying," Sakura said, her legs crossed from her seat atop Sasori's chest. "You wouldn't give me all your scrolls if I asked for them." She was still unravelling scrolls.

"Don't you have work today?" He wanted Sakura to get off his chest–it was hard to breathe–but he wasn't too sure if he should push her away. She wasn't a kunoichi anymore, but she still had superhuman strength, and this time, he was human, not a puppet. She could actually smack off his head.

"My shift begins a little later in the day. There are no major surgeries scheduled for the morning." She looked through another scroll. "And there are more than enough reliable doctors in the ICU."

"Sakura, get off me." He couldn't think of anything else to say.

"No." She looked through another scroll. It seemed as if there wasn't even _one_ hitokugutsu. That was strange. "Where are the hitokugutsu? I don't see them."

"They weren't brought back." He grabbed the pink-haired girl, sat up slowly so that she didn't fall to the ground, and then pushed her off. That was the best way he could think of. Hopefully, she didn't hit him. "You know that. Do you want me to explain it to you again?"

Sakura shoved the scrolls back into Sasori's arms. "No." She didn't have time to listen to him. "Get out so I can change."

She pulled her uniform from the closet. She was a medic-nin. She was still a medic-nin even though she was stationed at the hospital. She just wasn't a field medic-nin. And she didn't like the hospital medic-nin uniform. It was ugly and she looked funny in it, not cute at all. Sasori laughed when he saw her wearing the medic-nin uniform, and she threw him out the window. A moment later, he was brought in for surgery. She kept forgetting that he wasn't a puppet anymore. She couldn't do things like throwing him out of the third story window. But she really looked ridiculous in the medic-nin's uniform. That was why she wore the nurses' uniform.

"Well?" She glared at the Suna-nin who still sat in her room.

"Well what?"

"Get out," she said sternly at the redhead. "Get out!" She pulled him up by the collar and threw him out the room.

Sasori hit the wall outside to see Sakura's father staring down at him. "Can't you try to be quieter in the morning? You're supposed to be our guest."

"You should talk to your daughter, Ossan. She's the one yelling."

"I'm younger than you." The man's eyes smouldered with anger as he glared at the Suna-nin. Then, he walked away.

The Suna-nin's glare bore into the man's back before he vanished down the stairs. Sasori was older than Sakura's father, but not by a lot. It was only a few years...almost two decades...but the man liked to make it sound like it was centuries. _'It's only a warning to stay away from their daughter.'_ He didn't understand why they couldn't just tell him that he was too old for her. It wasn't as if he was thinking of her that way anyway. He just thought that she would make a good puppet, that's all. The _perfect_ puppet actually.

"Okay, let's go," Sakura said as she walked out of her room, her hands straightening the collar of her white shirt. It was the same plain dress that all the nurses wore. "Sasori!" He wasn't listening to her, again.

She grabbed the redhead's arm and pulled him out of the house. If she left him there, he would kill her parents. She hadn't missed the malicious glares coming from both parties when sitting in the same room for long periods of time. In fact, there were malicious glares even when they were together for short periods of time. They didn't trust the S-ranked criminal, and he didn't like that they didn't trust him. Sooner or later, she was going to come home to find two dead bodies sitting on the couch. Sakura wasn't willing to take that chance.

It was still early in the afternoon when Sakura and Sasori left the house. She didn't really like to think that they had left together, but it was difficult to imagine that he could be following her, or stalking her. That was something that she could live forever without knowing. Sasori stalking her was even creepier than having him at her side.

"Stay out of trouble, Sasori," Sakura said as they stopped at the entrance to the hospital. For a moment, she thought she sounded like a worried mother, but she shook it away with a single gesture of her head. If she didn't say it to him, he would think that it was okay to do whatever he wanted. Even if her mind told him no, he would still do something illegal, or kill someone.

She remembered running out of the hospital once. The ANBU had come to get her because Sasori had tried to kill one of the ANBU captains. He never told her why, but she had imagined that the Suna-nin had wanted to make the man into a hitokugutsu. That was practically the only thing on Sasori's mind, and it was practically the only thing that Sakura was really afraid of. She didn't want to come out of the hospital one day, only to find a dead man staring her in the eyes. She had enough dead men in her life. She didn't need another one.

"I promise I won't kill anyone," Sasori said with the arrogant superiority he liked to use with Sakura. He knew that it annoyed her. "That's what you were thinking, wasn't it?"

Sakura glared at him... "No." ...and she turned into the hospital. For a moment, she thought that Sasori had changed. Even if he wanted to make new hitokugutsu, she thought he could control himself. But her mind wandered away from that area as soon as he annoyed her again. That man wasn't going to change, no matter what.

"I'll be here when your shift ends!" Sasori called out to the girl as she walked away.

She only waved a hand back at him, but he could already hear her thoughts. _'You'd better!'_ They held more menace than anything she could have said to him back at the cave in Kawa no Kuni. She only punched him then, and it didn't hurt even thought it did crack his puppet body. This time, she implied she was going to torture him slowly. And she had the time for it now.

The Suna-nin turned from the girl. He had looked at her enough to memorize all her features. Pink hair. Aqua-green eyes. White dress. White cap over the red ribbon in her hair. She wasn't wearing a ribbon when he first saw her, but she was wearing one now. It looked nice. He had to admit that it looked nice in her hair.

'_Kuso!' _He pulled his mind away from the topic of Sakura. He was thinking of her again. That was annoying. He would rather not do that. He needed something else to do. He needed something that would take up his time.

But he didn't have any appointments today.

'_This is going to be a very long day,'_ Sasori sighed.

**K**akashi was wandering around the village. He realized it as soon as he came to the hospital. He always wandered back to this place sooner or later...because Sakura was inside. Sakura. Yes, he was thinking of her again, and he didn't care. He doubted that he was the only one with these thoughts.

He wanted her to come back. It was too difficult to find someone else to replace her. No one could take her place. She was Sakura. She was the perfect kunoichi for his team. It was annoying.

And trying to convince Sasuke was even more annoying. He kept saying no. There was no reason for the Uchiha to continue being a shinobi. He had already killed his brother. There was a different 'path' for him now. That was what he always said. And he took Naruto with him.

His team was gone.

'_May as well go in.'_ His mind tried to rationalise it as he looked up at the hospital building. He had already lived so long without seeing Sasuke that he almost didn't care about whether he came back or not, but Sakura... He needed Sakura on his team. He needed Sakura by his side. With Sakura, he really could convince Sasuke and Naruto to return.

'_No! It's too obvious!'_ His mind also tried to irrationalise it, even though it didn't have an argument. _'Don't go in!'_ That was why he could never convince himself to stop.

Kakashi's shoulders slumped visibly as his mind continued to argue, even though he already knew what he was going to do. He wanted to yell at himself, to tell himself to stop, but couldn't find a sane way to do it. Instead, he just pulled Icha Icha Tactics from his pocket and buried his face in the orange book again. It was too risky to go inside. He should just...

The grey-haired jounin ran into the hospital before he could talk himself out of it. If he didn't ask, he wouldn't know if she would say yes. For all he knew, this could be the day she returned to his team!

Kakashi stopped in front of the registration desk, his hand returning to his kunai pouch to place the book inside. He didn't need to read it here. In fact, he wasn't too sure if he should be reading in a hospital. "Do you know where Haruno Sakura is stationed today?" He asked the nurse at reception.

The woman stared at Kakashi for a moment before flipping open her book. This was the same man who came in everyday, at the same time, asking the same question. He didn't even say hello anymore. "Third floor, intensive care," the woman said as she read the page. "But the ICU is restricted to–" When she looked up, he was gone.

The nurse sighed. It was always restricted access, but it never stopped him. The shinobi never disrupted the surgeries anyway. She didn't know why she was worried all the time.

"Hello? How may I help you today?" She looked at the visitor who had stopped in front of the reception desk. They asked for someone too, but it wasn't nearly as interesting at the grey-haired man who came to the desk a moment before. With that, she could let her mind run wild. Was Haruno Sakura someone he was chasing since she was refusing to listen to his proposals? Was she someone he was close with? Was she a friend? Was she a relative? Was she someone else?

"Yes. He's in the children's ward," the nurse said, even as her mind ran through a million questions.

The other nurses all had their own theories–they've seen him running through the hospital like a constant spectre; however, this nurse's theory was simple. He must be in love with her. That was why he came everyday. There was no other explanation for it.

**S**asuke closed his eyes and took a deep breath before opening the door to the Hokage's office. This was it. He had applied for this over a week ago and had almost thought that the woman had forgotten about it.

"Uchiha Sasuke," Tsunade said slowly, her eyes fixed on the dark-haired shinobi who stood at the door. "Sit."

Sasuke stared unwaveringly at the woman. If he was anyone else, he would have paled at that ominous command. "What is your decision, Hokage-sama?" But even his voice was unwavering as he took his seat in front of the woman. She was only a Sannin, equal if not weaker than Orochimaru. And in his opinion, Orochimaru was weak.

"No."

"Souka." He thought this would be her answer. "You don't trust me with the safety of the village."

Tsunade narrowed her eyes at Sasuke. "The Konoha Keimu Butai cannot afford to allow a man like you among them." The boy was too calm for someone who was just rejected. _'If he knew, he shouldn't be wasting my time.'_

"There is a shortage of police members. You shouldn't be so frugal, Hokage-sama." Sasuke didn't like her answer, but he wasn't going to back down so easily. The Keimu Butai really had diminished in power, especially since the clan massacre. Back then, most of the Keimu Butai were from the Uchiha clan. Over the years, the numbers still hadn't risen to what they once were.

"I can afford to be frugal, Sasuke-kun." Her voice was as cold as if she was talking to Orochimaru. He was right. She didn't trust him, and she wasn't going to entrust the safety of the citizens of Konoha to him.

Sasuke held his emotions with a tight fist. If he allowed himself to let go, he would have killed the woman. "Onegai shimasu." His voice shook with uncertainty at the unfamiliar words. She sounded serious, like she really wasn't going to allow him to transfer. He had refused to be a shinobi, to join Team Kakashi and to take missions again for this reason. He couldn't back down now. "I won't ask for anything else."

He won't come back again.

"Tsunade-obaasan!" Naruto appeared by Tsunade's face, his dull blue eyes staring two inches away. "Why are you being so stingy? Just let him join the Keimu Butai!"

"Naruto!" Sasuke had no idea why Naruto was there.

Tsunade pushed herself quickly away. "Naruto!" She growled, a little annoyed. He wasn't even in the room a moment ago. Somehow, he always came in at the most inappropriate times. She should have known that he wouldn't be too far away.

"Why are you saying no?" The blond boy stared sternly at the woman. "It's not as if we're doing any missions, and he really wants to join!"

"I said no!" Tsunade said sternly, holding back her anger so that she didn't throw things at the fragile summoning. "And that means no. You can't change the Hokage's mind."

"Are you growing senile?" Naruto growled angrily. "Just transfer Sasuke to the Keimu Butai!" Naruto wasn't going to back down. Naruto never backed down.

"Senile? He's definitely not going now!"

"Transfer him!"

"I said no!"

"Say yes!"

"Naruto, stop it!" But the jinchuuriki wasn't listening, and Sasuke had no idea why the summoning wasn't listening to him. Was it because he felt so strongly about this situation? Was that why it wasn't working? "Naruto!"

"I SAID NO!" Tsunade grabbed a paperweight and threw it through Naruto.

There was a hole in Naruto's chest.

Naruto stared at the hole in his chest for a moment before looking evilly at Tsunade. He had the same face that was always there when he thought of a good prank. Except this wasn't a joke. "You tried to kill me! Now you have to transfer him! You can apologize by giving him the transfer!" He thought that he finally had the upper hand.

Tsunade was surprised. She hadn't thought that the paperweight would go straight through his chest like that. It was...unsettling. "..." Her first thought was to heal him, but Shosen Jutsu probably wouldn't work on a summoning. He wasn't really alive, so he wasn't really hurt, right? If it was that simple, she would have done it already. Or Sakura would have done it already. Sakura wouldn't have allowed Sasuke to suffer through Naruto's repeated 'deaths.' "I said no!" She shouted at the boy, her face obviously contorted in anger. "I'm not going to transfer him to the Keimu Butai!" She wasn't going to hand the safety of Konoha's citizens to a shinobi she didn't trust. She would never trust Orochimaru with the lives of anyone in her village.

"You just thought I was Orochimaru, didn't you?" Sasuke could see it on her face. It was undeniable. The hatred was there.

"Sasuke's not Orochimaru!" Naruto didn't stop, even though the hole was threatening to drag the rest of his body down with it. "Sasuke's not a snake!"

'_Where's he going with this?' _Sasuke just wanted Naruto to go. He was making the situation worse, like he always did. _'She's not going to transfer me, and that's it.'_ He couldn't shake the hopelessness that had gathered around him.

"I said no, and I mean no!" Tsunade grabbed her desk, holding it above her head for a moment... "Naruto!" ...before she threw it out the open window. The wood desk flew across the air, suspended as easily as a sigh in the wind before it landed onto the roof of the adjacent building. She never had any intention of throwing it at Naruto. That would only kill him. Throwing a desk at anyone would kill them. "Don't argue with me!" She couldn't let him have his way all the time. She did it enough with all those missions. But these weren't missions. She just couldn't do it now. This was different!

"Naruto! Stop now!" The Uchiha ran forwards, his arms wrapping tightly around the blond. He had actually thought that Tsunade was going to hit his dobe with the desk! _'Crazy woman!'_ His dark eyes glared at the blond woman.

"Sasuke!" Naruto's eyes widened as a rumble of tiny earthquakes surfaced in his chest. He knew this sensation. He knew this uneasiness. "Let go, Sasuke!" He couldn't let him see it. He couldn't let him see it again!

"Naruto?" Tsunade fixed her brown eyes on the blond boy. It was the first time she had seen this. Where the paperweight had smashed through his body, fractures cut away cracks of ash to fall to the ground. Slowly, Naruto was flying away on the curious wind blowing in from the open window. "Wha–"

"Sasuke, let go!" He really didn't want him to see. He didn't want to have to apologize to him. Naruto didn't want to leave. "Sasuke!" He didn't want to leave like that again.

Naruto pulled on his constricted arms, his palms flat against Sasuke's chest. His hands were already crumbling. He couldn't feel his fingertips anymore. The wind that stirred through his body was already carrying him away. _'Please, let me go.'_ He pushed Sasuke away, his body propelling backwards into the wind, exploding into a cloud of ash. And he was gone again.

Sasuke didn't know until it was too late. The look in Naruto's eyes as he fell backwards into oblivion cut through him with the same ease that it always did. The dark-haired boy was too engrossed in his own concern to see what he was doing. "Naruto..." He should never have touched him. It was still too early in the day. He shouldn't have touched him! "Naruto!" But he had just wanted to hold him forever.

Tsunade was equally as surprised. She hadn't seen anyone vanish like that before. This wasn't Shunshin no Jutsu. He wasn't just going to reappear somewhere else. _'Naruto!'_ He had decayed right before her eyes. There was no denying it.

"Hokage-sama," Sasuke said slowly, his eyes shielded in the heartbroken shadows of his hair. He didn't look at her as he spoke. "I apologize for the interruption." His voice and manner was completely unlike himself, but that was because his brain had shut off. He didn't want to remember this moment, even though it was already engraved permanently into his memory. "I'll leave now." He turned toward the door.

"Sasuke!" Tsunade called out before his hand could touch the doorknob. "Fine." Her voice was shaky, but she managed to say it. She couldn't tell him no. It could have been because he was so unlike Orochimaru at that moment, or just because Naruto had vanished right in front of her, but she couldn't refuse the transfer. "You can have your transfer." For a moment, she thought she could understand why he wanted to leave for the Keimu Butai. If he had to leave for missions, he would never have the time to be with Naruto, to find a way to resurrect him. This would be reality until he died. "I'll send someone over with the official documents. You can begin tomorrow." No one could stand seeing that everyday.

Sasuke was glaring darkly through the shadow of his hair at Tsunade as she spoke, as if she would laugh and say she was joking. But the woman wasn't someone who would do that. "Arigatou gozaimasu." His words were cold and empty, heavy with negativity even though they were polite. He didn't know whether to turn to her or continue leaving.

"And Sasuke-kun," Tsunade said as the Uchiha's hand reached for the door, her eyes fixed on his dark form. "Don't make me regret it."

"Hn." He waved a hand at the woman and left. Even though he had gotten what he wanted, he was alone again. Naruto had left even earlier than he had the day before, and the pain in his chest was growing.

**T**obi had stopped, his body reclining against the huge roots of a great tree. He couldn't get Zetsu-sama's words out of his head. If he didn't bring back the jinchuuriki and the head of the traitor, they would kill him anyway. It wasn't encouraging, but at least he was motivated. If he didn't succeed, there was no point in hiding. Wherever he went, Zetsu-sama would find him.

'_But...'_ The Akatsuki subordinate looked far into the leaves, so far that he almost saw Akasuna no Sasori in the distance. _'Can I really kill him?'_ He was confident that he could find the jinchuuriki and bring him back, but he wasn't sure about someone like Sasori. Sasori was supposed to be one of the strongest members of Akatsuki. _'But I have no choice. I have to do it.'_ If he didn't, he'd...

Tobi pulled himself to his feet. There was no other option. He wasn't going to back down. He didn't even know why he was thinking over it. He wanted to join the organization. The only way to join the organization was to kill Sasori. So, even if he died, he would kill Sasori. He had to kill Sasori. There was no way around it. If he didn't kill him, he would die anyway.

The thoughts turned in Tobi's head as he crossed over the terrain of trees leading to Konoha. He had settled it long ago. It didn't matter that it was going to be difficult. He would become a full member of Akatsuki. Now, all he had to think about was how to kill Sasori.

**S**akura wasn't in surgery, but the patients in intensive care were equally as challenging. She had Shikamaru in her hands, and he was severely injured. The last time she saw him, his team was being sent to the damiyo in the capital. He was only supposed to help strengthen the ties between Konoha and the damiyo of their neighbouring countries, so she hadn't thought that he would return in such a critical state. It didn't sound dangerous when she first heard about it. It was the perfect, non-troublesome mission for such a brainy, lazy chuunin.

But there was an attempted assassination, and Shikamaru was hurt in the process.

She should have known that it was going to happen. Troublesome things like that tended to happen around Shikamaru.

"Intensive care sure has become less morbid," Shikamaru said as his body loosened from the pain that had paralysed it. Sakura's healing abilities were stronger than most medic-nin there.

"Flattery still won't get you out sooner," Sakura said as she marked the brunette's new status on his medical charts. "The muscles on your arm are still fragile. Excessive movement may tear the ligaments again. It was a good thing that kunai didn't go any further. You could have lost permanent movement in that arm." She pulled up the original report. A few more centimetres and it would have torn through the tendon. That would have rendered his arm permanently useless, even if he had a medic-nin on hand.

"I'm sure you could have handled it," Shikamaru said blandly as he stared out the window at the clouds. They were useless words, completely untrue. She was just worried. Even if he didn't know anything about medical jutsu, he knew that there were techniques that dealt with regenerating muscle tissue...like with Lee, and Neji after his fight with that Oto-nin.

"Sakura!" A nervous outburst from the door.

'_Just when I'm about to remark on that and go,'_ Sakura thought, relieved that he had finally come to talk to her even as she slid the clipboard back into its pocket at the end of the sickbed. "Get some rest and you'll be out of here soon," she said instead of the contented greeting that she had in mind.

She turned and looked at the jounin for a silent moment before walking into the hall. She couldn't think of anything to say to him. If she said something, there was a possibility that she would say yes to the words she knew he was thinking.

"What did you do to her this time, Kakashi-sensei?" Shikamaru asked, his attention drawn instantly by the grey-haired man's worn-out expression. It was cold in the room before, but he was actually shivering now.

"Nothing. Ja, Shikamaru!" He turned back to the pink-haired medic-nin who had walked into the hall. "Sakura!" His chest leapt, apprehension holding him back for a moment before he forced himself to call out, even though he was afraid of what she would say. "Chotto matte!"

"I'm busy." And Sakura was reluctant to hear him as well. "Come back in a few decades."

"That's cold," he said with a slight slump of his shoulders. "You didn't used to be like this."

'_I've had time to think about what to say,' _Sakura thought as she waved to a passing nurse. She had felt his presence following her around the hospital since she transferred here. After the first few times, she knew that it wasn't a coincidence. "Did you know that there's restricted access to this area of the hospital?" She tried not to talk about it. _'He knows. Of course, he knows! The words are printed on the walls, shannaro!'_

"They know I'm here," he said as easily as if he was explaining a mission to his team. It was as if he didn't care that he would get kicked out of the hospital, or punished by the Hokage for his carelessness. He just didn't care!

'_Arrgh! What's wrong with him!'_ Sakura glanced quickly at the grey-haired jounin before turning the hall again. Kakashi-sensei didn't used to be so persistent, and so...so weird! She could barely remember when was the last time he was normal, the normal Kakashi that she had known since she officially became a genin.

The last time was from before Sasuke's return, before his and Naruto's death, before Sai, before Chiyo and Sasori, before Sasuke left for Orochimaru, before everything. In fact...

...it _was_ the day she met him!

She couldn't remember normal behaviour after that. It was all vague. She really had been avoiding him lately.

"Whatever you want to say, say it after my shift, Kakashi-sensei." She looked at the masked man walking behind her with his head hanging. He was obviously suffering, and she couldn't turn him away. "We can..." She couldn't think of what they could do. They couldn't train together, not like before. That would only bring back painful memories. "...go to the dango shop, or just take a walk."

And Kakashi was staring at the girl, his ears perked with surprise. _'Did she just say...?'_ He was hardly listening, expecting a rejection, expecting an angry outburst, expecting yelling to get out of the hospital. He thought she would push him out the nearest exit as soon as possible. "O-okay!" He said shakily, afraid that she would change her mind, that she would correct him and tell him that he was only daydreaming, that she was never coming back. "I'll...come back...when...your shift ends." He spoke slowly, trying to hold back the excitement that raged within him. He wasn't sure if he could wait. He wanted to talk to her now. If he said it any faster, he would have grabbed her and run.

"Good. I'll see you later, sensei," she said with a carefree tone as she walked through swinging doors into an occupied operating room. He couldn't follow her in there.

Kakashi stared at the closed doors. He wasn't just hearing things, or dreaming. She had actually said it. He could feel his body dragging him forwards. He wanted to ask her again, just to confirm it. He wanted to hear those words again. But he pulled himself back. If he went to her now, she really would change her mind.

It was best just to come back later.

**End Chapter 2**

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Fire's English tidbits for those who care:

Here's more grammar that I keep running into. Try to follow along. Advice and advise, practice and practise, licence and license and all the other words that have similar pairs that confuse everyone! Wondering what they mean? The words with a "c" are generally nouns. The words with an "s" are verbs. For those in the US, American English is a little different. You don't really have to worry about these differences because a lot of these words are exempted from your dictionaries. For example, license and practice are used as both the noun and verb in the US. But everyone should be consulting their dictionaries to make sure you're using the right English, not just the ones in our computers. Get different ones from different publishing companies. I have five different English dictionaries from five different publishing companies.

Fire's babbling:

Sasuke: You're going into linguistics again. Stop it! No one cares how many dictionaries you have!

Fire: Waah! Don't yell at me!

Sasuke: You should see the dictionaries in other languages. I can't even read some of these!

Fire: That one's in Russian.

Sasuke: … (hands it to Itachi)

Itachi: What do you want me to do with this?

Sasuke: You're a genius. Figure it out.

Itachi: (looks at the dictionary, looks at Naruto, hits Naruto in the head with the dictionary, grabs him and runs away) …

Sasuke: Hey! That's not how you use a dictionary! (runs after Itachi)

Fire: Well, that was this chapter.

Sasori: That part about the middle of the night and cold showers isn't true!

Sakura: O.O;; I hope not!

Fire: And I hope everyone noticed the connotations around the word "frugal." Sasuke wasn't talking about money with Tsunade.

Kisame: Where was that?

Fire: The part where Sasuke was trying to convince Tsunade to transfer him to the Keimu Butai.

Kisame: (tries to find it) Arrgh! I don't care! (throws the window to the ground and stomps on it)

Fire: Hey! Close the window properly! (turns to the audience) And please send in your thoughts and opinions. I want to know everything, even if it's really, really bad. Tell me all my flaws so I can fix them. If you're annoyed about anything, I want to know about it. If you don't tell me, I won't be able to change! Tell me!

Kisame: (holds Fire back) You're going crazy again.

Fire: Ahem! (recomposes) I don't care about length. Make it as long or as short as you want to make it. I'll still read them all and reply to all of them if possible. That means sign your review if you want a reply; otherwise I'll put them into the author's notes.

Kisame: (points to the clock at the corner of the screen) …

Fire: Well, we're running out of time. See you next chapter! Ja ne!

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	4. Three: Breakthrough

Sasuke: Is this story interesting? Send me a—

Fire: Don't ask them stupid questions like that! If they think it's boring, they won't be reading anymore!

Sasuke: Should—

Fire: (taping Sasuke's mouth shut and turning to the audience) You know where you are; otherwise, you've gotten yourself in the wrong window.

Sasori: Vote for me!

Sakura: No!

Fire: The polls are still open so if you want to see Sakura paired up with your favourite bishounen, send in your opinions!

Sai: (holding up his hand) …

Fire: Um…I don't know Sai's fate in the manga so please don't ask me to put him in the story. It'll complicate the storyline trying to explain how he came back from Orochimaru. I might have to add a few more sidestories to fit it all in here. – – ;;

Kisame: Now you're just lazy.

Sasuke: You could think of something.

Fire: (sighs) Okay. Maybe. If they can conclude Sai's story in the manga by the time I get to where I would add him, I'll put him in.

Sakura: Yay!

Fire: You seem happy. You like Sai?

Sai: (looks at Sakura) …

Sakura: Anyone but Sasori.

Sasori: (glares at Sai) …

Kakashi: I'm still number one! Stop forgetting that!

Sasuke: Shouldn't you be packing for your vacation?

Kakashi: I'm taking a break.

Sasuke: (looks at the resumes in his hand) I guess this can wait then. (puts the resumes away)

Kakashi: (waves to Darkykimanoi) Hi, Ak—

Sakura: (yells at Kakashi) This is why Sasori received more votes! Stop that!

Sasori: (happy) I'm becoming more popular.

Fire: Yes. We've received more votes for Sasori. Thank you to everyone who has sent them in. If you ever change your mind, just send it to me.

Sakura: No! He'll make me into a puppet!

Sasori: But beauty should be preserved!

Fire: (sweats profusely) Um…don't kill Sakura. (turns to the audience) It's true! There are now more votes for Sasori and he's moving ahead in the polls. Those of you who still like Kakashi more should say something before it's too late! Unless you don't care…then I might just pair her with Deidara.

Sakura: (looks at Deidara) …

Deidara: (looks at Sakura) …

Sakura: (angry) No! This girly man!

Deidara: (pulls out kibaku nendo) Beauty is fleeting, yeah?

Sakura: He's trying to blow me up!

Sasori: (grabs Sakura away) Deidara, get away from her.

Fire: And gomen nasai about the fight scenes with Tobi in them. I thought we'd see him fight in the series by now so his abilities are very limited. It's not as impressive as it could be. – – ;; Please don't hate me if it's not that good. I did my best.

Sasuke: Ahem!

Fire: And Sasuke did his best too.

Sasuke: I did most of the work in choreographing that fight!

Sasori: (points to self) I helped too.

Fire: (ignoring Sasuke and Sasori) Well, I don't know what Kakashi plans to take with him on his vacation, but I want to mess up his room. We're all going to…help…him. Read this while we're gone. (loads chapter 3 onto the window)

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Note: (Ritsu-esque freaking out) Waah! And I forgot the Legend for _Aku_ _no_ _Yami_ too! Gomen nasai! Gomen nasai! I know it's late! I hope I'm not missing anything.

**Legend**

Regular text

"Regular dialogue, or Zetsu's left side—the side that speaks normally—speaking"

_Flashbacks, hallucinations and dreams_

'_Thoughts'_

"_Speech during flashbacks, speech done by hallucinations or speech during dreams"_

_**Kyuubi speech**_

"**Zetsu's right side—the side the speaks entirely in Katakana—speaking"**

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Important: I'll be updating twenty-four hours later than I usually do next Monday due to a holiday. It's my usual preference but for those who didn't know, you know now! Gomen nasai for any inconveniences this may cause.

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**Chapter 3: Breakthrough**

'_**I**'m not invisible. Look at me! Why won't you look at me! Onegai. That is all I ask. Please don't ignore me. I can't bear it if you ignore me! I'll never ask for anything again. Just acknowledge me! Just...don't leave me alone.'_

**L**ate afternoon had arrived by the time Sakura walked out of the hospital. And Kakashi was standing, waiting at the entrance. For a moment, she was confused. She couldn't remember why he was standing there. But her memory shoved the information into her mind as soon as she saw him. She had said they could do something together.

The memory of his earlier depressed expression flashed through her mind as she held up an arm to wave hello to her former sensei, "Kakash–" but the rest of her sentence caught in her throat as her eyes turned to see Sasuke walk up...alone. She had forgotten all about his and Naruto's walking her home. She hadn't told him that she had made arrangements with Kakashi! "Sasuke-kun!" She was acutely aware that he was alone. She didn't even consider that he could want to walk her home on his own. She already knew that it wasn't possible. Sasuke would never feel that way about her. Something had happened to Naruto. "Where's–" Sakura stopped herself at the Uchiha's frown. No. It was bad judgement to ask about Naruto. Sasuke would only hate her if she did.

Sasuke's dark eyes fell on Kakashi for a moment before turning coldly to Sakura again. "He's here?" The Uchiha's cold words froze the pink-haired girl before she could greet him further. The plain fact was too obvious to hide. Kakashi was here. "Then I can go home." Sasuke obviously didn't want to see Sakura. He turned around before she could return to reality and stop him.

And she really wanted to stop him. She didn't want him to take this gesture for Kakashi the wrong way. She didn't want Sasuke to think that she had replaced him in her heart. No matter what she did...no matter what new emotions she felt, she still loved him. She would never deny it. She would never throw it away. She could never erase it from her body. She had loved him for too long to change now. She was too stubborn to change.

But her body wouldn't move. She couldn't find the strength to stop him and explain what was going through her mind.

Sasuke didn't turn to the pink-haired girl again. He didn't speak to her again. There were only Sasuke's faint words to Kakashi before he shunshin-ed away, said in a voice that didn't care whether Sakura heard it or not. "Don't hurt her. If you do, I _will_ kill you." However, even with such nonchalant words, they were only heard by the jounin. Sakura was too stunned by his previous words to hear or see anything.

Kakashi smiled to himself at the threat. He remembered a time when it was nothing, when that threat could have never hurt him. But, it was different now. After returning from Oto no Sato, Sasuke was more than powerful enough to really kill him.

"Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura blinked a few times before staring at the grey-haired man. He was smiling to himself for no apparent reason. "Daijoubu?"

And Kakashi had to stop. He looked at Sakura and wondered if she wanted to kill him too. But he didn't ask. That thought was irrational at a time like this. "Sakura, do you want to stop by the dango shop for some ohagi?" Kakashi thought for a moment as the girl stared at him. "Or botamochi, but it's not the right season for either. Maybe just some anko dango...that's your favourite, ne, Sakura?"

"Uh...yeah," Sakura said slowly. Her sensei was babbling, talking about nothing in particular. Hearing him talk about sweets...that was definitely unlike him. She could tell that he was nervous. "We can get some kushi-dango." She turned, grabbing the nervous jounin by the arm and leading him toward the dango shop. She couldn't imagine what he could be scared of, but to her, dango was always a good idea.

Her vision was a blur, the people passing by on either side only homogenous shapes and colours. Her mind still dwelled on what had happened between her and Sasuke. She wanted to run and find him, tell him why she was with Kakashi, but she couldn't find the strength to do it. She couldn't just leave Kakashi alone when she had already promised.

"Sakura, come back." The masked jounin's abrupt words cut through the air, rendering the atmosphere dark for a single moment. Sakura froze even though her feet still moved forwards, her hands becoming ice cold as she pushed the words away. This was why she didn't see her sensei as often as she used to. She didn't want to hear those pleading words, asking her to return to her old life.

She didn't want to disappoint him. She could see him dying with each passing day, the light vanishing from him as easily as it did to Naruto. Somehow, she couldn't bring herself to kill him, even if she really wanted to say yes. "I can't." She set him on a bench in the dango shop. They didn't sell Kakashi's favourite foods here, but in her opinion, sweet things had the power to cheer anyone from depression. "Kakashi-sensei, please don't ask me again," she said sternly. At least they didn't sell anything that Kakashi hated.

The air hung heavily between them in a silent moment before Kakashi spoke. He should have known she would say no, but he couldn't kill the hope embedded in his chest. "It's not the season for ohagi." Kakashi's voice had the flatness of someone trying to make polite conversation. Suddenly, he realized that there was nothing he could say to Sakura. There was no common topic. What could he say to someone who had nothing in common with him anymore?

She was never going to return.

Sakura stared at the bare tabletop, her eyes trying to convince her sight that what she was seeing was interesting...even though it wasn't true. But she didn't want to look at him. She didn't want to look at his face when the situation between them had suddenly become so awkward. She just wanted some dango so that she could leave and go home. _'Waah! Sasori, where are you!'_ She wanted someone to come and drag her away, so that she couldn't hurt her sensei any more than she already had.

But she knew no one would come. No one ever came. Not even Sasori.

"I..." Sakura didn't know what she wanted to say, but she couldn't return to being a kunoichi. She couldn't go back to the life she had before. She had to explain it to him. Even if the ghosts of dead men were threatening to drag her down, Kakashi had more demons. It was unfair to ask for an exception for herself when she knew there must be a hundred times more faces haunting her sensei. "There's something else." Something else was holding her back. "I..." She just never wanted to tell him about her selfish desire. "I want to help them, Kakashi-sensei." Sakura's words came slowly as the waitress set their order of dango in front of them. She lifted one skewer from the plate and examined it bleakly before biting into a round dumpling. "You saw it."

Kakashi was observant, as a shinobi should be. It was impossible to not see Sasuke's suspicious expressions. "Yes."

The sadness that encompassed Sasuke was so thick that even Sasori had noticed. The Suna-nin had actually offered to "put him out of his misery" for her. Of course Sakura said no, but she was beginning to change her mind. Everyday, the atmosphere thickened. There seemed to be no way around it.

"I saw him once, sitting at the gates of Konoha with Naruto's jacket." Sakura had no idea why she was telling this to her sensei. Perhaps it was to unload those unwanted emotions from her heart. "He clutched it so tightly that I thought the jacket would rip in two." Sakura's eyes sparkled, threatening emotions she didn't want to feel. She could still remember his bloodless white origami hands. If he had moved, his skin–already pulled too taunt–would have torn like paper. "Sasuke won't talk to me about it. He won't talk to anyone about it." She squeezed her eyes shut, as if that would keep the tears from coming. But slowly, they flew from her eyes, dropping unstoppably to the table. "Kakashi-sensei..." She didn't want to look at him. "...I..." She took another bite of her dango, but the sweet dessert wasn't doing anything to help. "I wanted to help him, but..." She stared at the last round ball on the stick.

She couldn't think of anything to do. Sasuke never talked to her. He never looked at her. All he cared about was Naruto. If she was Naruto, she could help him, but...she wasn't. And he just wouldn't listen to her!

The jounin looked across the table, unable to think of what to say. He was never good with emotions. But he knew what she was thinking. "Sasuke was always good at brooding," he said as he pulled an awkward handkerchief to wipe her face. _'Nan de...'_ He didn't know what to say. Sakura's weakness was always Sasuke. At least that hadn't changed, even if they had all become different people from then.

"Yes," Sakura said with a feeble laugh as she took the handkerchief from her sensei's hand. She remembered. "It's silly to think that it's anything special," even though she already knew that it was Naruto. Sasuke only brooded about Naruto. Even in her first memories of Sasuke, he was always brooding about Naruto.

He was depressed about Naruto. Neither she, nor Kakashi had said it, but it was Naruto who depressed Sasuke so easily. It was always Naruto. Naruto brought out stronger emotions from the Uchiha's barren, emotionless body than anyone or anything else could. Anger. Hatred. Friendship. Love. Sadness. Depression. All those emotions, which were out of reach, were possible around Naruto. Somehow, Sakura couldn't hold back her jealousy. She had wanted to be the one to make him feel, and she had thought she had managed it long ago when he decided to leave them. But all this time, it was still Naruto he had on his mind.

And Sakura laughed again, even though her hands wiped the wetness of her eyes from her face. She was jealous of a dead man. She had to wonder when that happened, but she didn't have to wonder. She remembered it clearly.

She had always been jealous of Naruto, envious of his strength, envious that he had caught Sasuke so easily when it had taken her years to obtain even one date. That emotion still hadn't gone away. When she was in the hospital, Sasuke was still thinking of him. Sasuke would never stop loving him. Even though he was dead, Sasuke would still choose Naruto over her.

There was silence as Sakura ate the dango left on the plate. Kakashi didn't eat. He only watched and listened. He couldn't think of what else to do. There was nothing he could say to ease her pain, and nothing he could do to make it go away. With all the power he had, none of it could help him with comforting people. He was still horrible with real emotions.

He had released the idea of asking her to come back...for now. Her mind was too occupied to say yes anyway.

**S**asori's mind was filled with unnecessary thoughts. He had wanted to dig them out with a kunai, but changed his mind when he remembered that he was _human._ That word was haunting him. Human. That meant that he couldn't do it without killing himself. His kunai were all coated with poisons. He would definitely die if he stabbed himself with it.

The redhead closed his eyes, his hands pressing against the rough bark of the tree. His fingers traced against each individual scale and knot of the limb beneath his body, memorizing the scent of the cool wind around his palms as his hand moved across the branch. For a moment, he was intoxicated.

Then Sakura's mind interrupted again. Pain and sadness.

'_Kuso! Can't she leave me alone for one moment!'_ He had been trying to reacquaint himself with his senses for most of the day. The Suna-nin glared down at the pink-haired girl. She had come out of the hospital from work only a moment ago and she was already annoying him. _'I should just interrupt your precious time with the Uchiha gaki.'_ His thoughts were more morbid than his actions.

And Kakashi was already standing there.

Sasori blinked. He couldn't remember why Kakashi was there. But it didn't matter. Sakura was flustered enough with the masked jounin around. It was the first time Sasori looked at Kakashi and actually managed to stomach it. He actually didn't want to kill him for once. _'Serves her right!'_ Sakura's distress was already spilling into him.

But as Sasuke left and Kakashi took Sakura away, the redhead jumped from the tree to the street. "Teme!" He didn't want to kill Kakashi, but he didn't say that he could take her away! "Where is he taking her?"

There was no reason for Kakashi to actually see her. He had been following her around for so long. And Sakura didn't want to see him; that was what she said. She never wanted to see anybody. She had decided that she would stop being a shinobi, and no one was going to change her mind. Sasori knew that she had too much pride to take back her word, even if she had thought twice about it and now wanted to be one again. But she changed her mind a lot lately. She would change her mind back soon.

She _will _change her mind soon!

Sasori glared into Kakashi's back, his mind filled with hatred. She wasn't pushing him away. The pink-haired girl had grabbed the Konoha jounin by the hand and dragged him after her. The Suna-nin wasn't needed.

He rushed forwards, his mind set on tearing that jounin away from her. He _wanted _to tear him away from her. No one was allowed near his Sakura!

But the Suna-nin fell back as a kunai shot into his path. If he hadn't stopped, it would have definitely hit him.

Sasori looked up, his cold eyes falling onto a familiar figure. He knew this man. He had met him in Kawa no Kuni, and it was obvious what he was here for. Even though the blond jinchuuriki was dead, Sasori could still distinctly feel the power of the Kyuubi within his body. But the blond had already disintegrated. Tobi couldn't find him today.

And if he wasn't here for the jinchuuriki, he was definitely here to kill _him_. Even if they already had the ring back, Akatsuki wasn't going to leave him alone. He should have known.

"Teme!" Sasori shouted as his hand shot forwards to grab the man's black uniform. He hadn't seen the man's face, but it was unmistakable. This was one of Zetsu's subordinates. This was _that _subordinate from Kawa no Kuni.

He was sealed! Tobi could have unsealed him!

"Sasori-sama," Tobi said, his voice filled with malice as he sliced across Sasori's fingers, sending the hand flying back before it could lose its digits. The masked nukenin hadn't thought that he would be so fortunate to find him here when the jinchuuriki had eluded all detection. At least he could return with one of his two tasks accomplished.

'_Aitsu!'_ Sasori threw the man aside, his bloody hand reappearing with a single scroll. He needed to get rid of his man quickly. He needed to get back to Sakura. But it wasn't going to be easy. This was one of Zetsu's minions, and Zetsu was as treacherous and particular as the rest of their organization. _'Ex-organization!'_ In order to survive being a minion, he had to be equally as strong and equally as dangerous. When it came to subordinates, they didn't tolerate weakness, and they didn't tolerate disobedience. Zetsu probably didn't like his minion overstepping his boundaries. Minions were minions. They were nothing. Only tools that existed to serve their master.

'_I'll take care of this pest for you, Zetsu.'_ Sasori's eyes fixed on the masked nukenin racing toward him. He lifted the unfurled scroll in anticipation of the kunai held securely in Tobi's gloved hands. _'Sakura's never going to forgive me.'_ The thought passed through his mind for a brief moment before the puppet flew forwards at Tobi.

At that moment, he was surprised. That wasn't like him. He shouldn't care about the girl. Even if she had asked him to behave himself, he didn't have to listen to her. He didn't care what she thought. He didn't care about anything!

"Chikusho!" Sasori swept his puppet aside, slicing through the minion's arm. She was irritating him during a fight. Did she want him to die!

Tobi fell back, his hand holding his wound for a moment before smashing through the puppet with his body. He flew through wood limbs toward the puppetmaster, his hand moving away from his wound with a kunai in its grasp.

Sasori stared at the puppet parts falling to the ground. This wasn't right. His puppet couldn't have failed. There was something wrong. His movements. He couldn't move properly. His arms were too slow. His eyes weren't working correctly!

The Suna-nin pushed the minion aside, fear filling his body for the first time in a very, _very _long time. His heart pounded in his head. He couldn't think straight. His mind wouldn't focus.

"You've become weak, Sasori-sama." Tobi laughed, his free hand scraping against the ground, pulling his body to a complete stop. His fears from earlier seemed so illogical now. He had nothing to fear from this weakling. He leapt at Sasori again. "If you stop struggling, I'll kill you quickly!" But he was lying. No one in Akatsuki would willingly kill mercifully.

But Sasori had no intention of dying. Even if his body wasn't working properly, his poisons were stronger than they were before. All he needed was an interesting puppet to distract him.

'_Orochimaru!'_ Sasori pulled the hitokugutsu from his scroll, sending the Sannin at the minion.

'_Orochimaru...sama?'_ Tobi stared surprisedly at the puppet for a moment before leaping away from the Sannin's attack. He had never seen Orochimaru before, even though he had heard of him. The Konoha nukenin had left Akatsuki before he arrived. But he didn't know that the Suna-nin had the Sannin in his arsenal!

"Karyuu."

Tobi turned. The redhead's face was right beside him. He kicked the Suna-nin away, launching himself backwards. He had allowed himself to be distracted by Orochimaru!

But he wasn't going to make the same mistake twice. He wasn't going to let Sasori get away. The Akatsuki minion composed himself, ready for another attack. Sasori wasn't that strong. He was nowhere as strong as he was before his "death." He _could _kill him!

But that smirk. What was that evil smirk on Sasori's face?

"Look down."

Tobi turned his covered face toward his torso and growled in displeasure. A kunai. Sasori had cut him. "You think this will–!" The minion's legs wobbled beneath him. _'What is this?'_

Sasori glared down at the man, his hand tightening around a kunai. The dokujikomi wasn't as well executed as he would have liked, but he didn't care. He just wanted to kill this bastard. "Shi-ne!" He threw the kunai, aiming directly for his heart. The poison would have killed him in two days–he had improved it after his fight with Sakura–or he could have made Orochimaru do it, but it was more satisfying to personally kill annoying insects. However, the masked man shunshin-ed away before the kunai could hit.

It embedded itself in the dirt.

Anger filled the Suna-nin. He had wanted to kill him, but he was also relieved. Without his puppet body, he really was more normal now, especially since he was still adjusting. He could barely believe that he had that much trouble fighting a minion. It wasn't fun at all. "But that's why you're here, ne, Orochimaru?" He looked at the pale hitokugutsu standing at his side. But there was only the soft clicking of movement. There were no words coming from the dead man.

Then he ran to find Sakura. Tobi had already faded from his thoughts. He needed to hurt that grey-haired shinobi for taking his Sakura away!

**S**asuke sank to the ground; his hands wound tight around the black shirt that Naruto was wearing not long ago in the Hokage's office. It was colder today than the day before, and the blond had thought to bring an extra shirt just in case.

Naruto had fallen apart faster than he did the day before. Sasuke had thought that he had at least a few hours left. The sun had yet to set and there were more things he wanted to do with him before he went.

But it could have something to do with Tsunade destroying his body.

Usually, they had more time than they did today. Usually, they walked Sakura home, because Naruto always wanted to walk her home. Usually, Naruto watched him train, complaining occasionally about his horrible skills, even though they both knew that wasn't the problem. It was because Naruto couldn't train with him anymore, not without disintegrating.

But today, it was almost as if the blond shinobi didn't want to be around. It was careless of him to stand within striking range of the Hokage. It was almost as if the blond shinobi was only around because he wanted to be around Sakura...not Sasuke.

'_But it can't be true. It can't be true, Naruto!'_

The dark-haired shinobi buried his face in the shirt, his legs folding against his chest, crushing the shirt against him. He really wanted to have Naruto back. Right now. He wanted to watch the sun set with him, and to watch him eat Ramen, and have him yell at him whenever he did something he didn't like.

But Naruto was gone, at least for now. There were very few powers in this world which would allow Naruto to stay with him forever, to stay without dying everyday...but Sasuke had yet to find even one. If he could bring Naruto back, he would do anything...

'_Anything.'_

...to make it possible.

**End Chapter 3**

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Fire's English tidbits for those who care:

Welcome to part one of a two part tidbit. It's too long to put in one chapter, so I'm going to separate it between this chapter and the next chapter, like what I did with the explanations of formal English, informal English and colloquial English. This is about numbers: when to spell them and when to use figures. First, when to spell them. Generally, any small number should be spelled out; however, there are additional rules. If the sentence begins with a number, if the numbers are approximate or indefinite or if the numbers are used with a non abbreviated metric unit, spell the number no matter how long it is. So, "Five boxes of ramen sat in Sasuke's kitchen" is preferable to "5 boxes of ramen sat in Sasuke's kitchen", "Sasori is roughly fifty years old" is preferable to "Sasori is roughly 50 years old" and "Yamanaka Ino weighs approximately thirty-nine kilograms" is preferable to "Yamanaka Ino weighs approximately 39kgs." However, if the metric unit is abbreviated, ie "Yamanaka Ino weighs approximately 39kgs," then "39kgs," can be written. And all these are in addition to the rule that all numbers between zero and twenty should be written no matter how they are used. I hope this wasn't confusing. They're just all basic rules. Next time, when to use figures.

Fire's babbling:

Sasuke: (annoyed) Now I'll have Ino's weight stuck in my mind forever.

Ino: No! Why did you use that example!

Fire: (shrugs) I wanted to.

Kakashi: I'm packed!

Fire: (excited) Yes! And we have the cannon ready!

Kakashi: (worried) Cannon?

Deidara: I used some good nendo for you so you'd better appreciate it.

Fire: Now all we have to do is load the cannon!

Sasori: (smiling evilly) I'll do it! (grabs Kakashi)

Kakashi: O.O Nani!

Sasori: (stuffs Kakashi into the cannon) Ready!

Kisame: (pulls Fire away from the cannon) Fire's accident prone. There's a higher chance of Kakashi hitting Fire than landing outside the window.

Fire: No, I'm not!

Kisame: You've tripped and fell while standing in one place.

Fire: …

Deidara: Fire! (explodes the kibaku nendo)

Kakashi: (flies out the window into Darkykimanoi's window) X/

Fire: Those of you who don't know who Darkykimanoi is, search for the account. Kakashi will be staying with them for a while.

Sasuke: (walks into the window with a stack of resumes in his hands, looks up) Is Kakashi already gone?

Fire: (nods) You missed him.

Sasuke: (continues reading) No, I don't.

Fire: Interviews for Kakashi's substitute start next chapter. In the meantime, review, review and review! I need input! I need input! I need—

Kisame: (smacks Fire in the head) …

Fire: X/ (falls to the ground)

Sasuke: What did you do that for?

Kisame: I thought Fire was broken.

Sasuke: That's a "broken record." People don't break. And at least catch Fire!

Kisame: Are you telling me to cook?

Sasuke: Shark _is_ a delicacy.

Sasori: Remember to vote for me!

Kisame: Run your campaign somewhere else!

Sakura: Don't vote for Sasori!

Deidara: I'm a favourite too, yeah?

Sakura: (inches away from Deidara) No! Don't vote for Deidara!

Shikamaru: Mendokuse.

Sasori: (grabs Sakura) She's min— (pauses suspiciously) …my master! Stop trying to steal her! (runs away)

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	5. Four: Descent into Insanity

Fire: As was stated in the last chapter, Kakashi is now on vacation. We are no interviewing substitutes for this chapter. Because of that, prizes for everyone! (throws scrolls at the audience)

Naruto: Yose! Those are mine! (grabs the scrolls from Fire) I need to study them.

Sasuke: We're sharing our things now. You don't need those extra copies.

Fire: (excited) Like you're married!

Naruto: Who would want to marry that? (points at Sasuke)

Sasuke: I'm not a "that!"

Fire: Um…who are we interviewing today?

Sasuke: (turns annoyedly away from Naruto and pulls out a resume) Aburame Shino.

Shino: (waves to the audience) Hello.

Fire: Shino, where's the Big Bag of Reviews?

Shino: I don't know. The bugs are carrying them here.

Fire: ;; Shino, the bag's too heavy for your bugs to carry.

Shino: (breaks out in cold sweat) …

Sasuke: You just killed them.

Shino: (shunshins away) …

Naruto: That didn't work well.

Shino: (shunshins back and throws the bag at Fire) …

Kisame: (catches the bag before it can hit Fire) Watch where you're throwing this thing!

Shino: I need to get to the hospital. (holding partially squished bugs) I quit. (shunshins away again)

Fire: (sweats) Okay. Shino's off the list.

Sasuke: I know.

Kisame: (hands Fire a window) Reviews.

Fire: Yay!

Sasori: Actually, yay for me! (looks at the window over Fire's shoulder) More votes for me!

Fire: (waiting for Kakashi to object) …

Sasuke: Kakashi's not here.

Fire: Oh! Yeah!

Sakura: No!

Deidara: Someone wants me? Wow, that's great! (happy) There's already that pairing set up for this story. So what do you think, Sakura?

Sakura: No! (runs to Sasuke) Sasuke-kun! Do something! They're going to kill me!

Sasuke: (scrolling through a few windows in his hands) I already foreshadowed what your relationship with Deidara's going to be like. (looks up from reading) Hmm…

Sakura: What hmm? You can't set me up with that lunatic!

Sasuke: I'll think about it.

Fire: The cowriter has spoken! And those of you who want Gaara to appear in this story and end up with Sakura…Sand won't let me. As you all know, this is Fire and Sand. I'm Fire and there _is_ a Sand. Anyway, Sand won't let me do that to Gaara, mainly because Sand hates Sakura and Gaara doesn't want to do it. Gaara is Sand's cowriter. All of Gaara's actions in my stories are monitored by them, so it's difficult to write about Gaara at all! (hugs Kisame for comfort) Kisame, talk to them!

Kisame: I don't swim in sand.

Sakura: Thank—

Fire: But there are slight ShikaSaku in this story. I'll build on it later in this book so don't be too disappointed if there isn't a lot of it in the beginning.

Sakura: No! Sasuke-kun! What don't you understand about that! This should be a SasuSaku! He should love me!

Sasuke: (hugs Naruto) I love Naruto. Stop annoying me and leave me alone.

Naruto: (looks at his hands) I'm not falling apart. (happy)

Fire: That's all for now. Thanks for everyone who sent in moral support. It—

Kisame: It keeps Fire from going crazy. Just send in whatever you want to talk about. Fire reads them all and replies to them all.

Fire: You're referring to Soda-san, aren't you?

Kisame: What makes you think that?

Fire: Kisame's still annoyed that Soda-san made him exeunt. If you have no idea what we're talking about, it's in the reviews.

Sasuke: On with the story! (smashes chapter 4 onto the screen)

---------------------------

Warning: This chapter contains traces of insanity, blood and self-mutilation. Read at your own discretion. This is where the rating of 15-up comes in. Don't blame me if I scar your fragile minds (ie conscious mind and subconscious mind, not right brain and left brain). If you read this, the way you think about any of Sasori, Sasuke and Kakashi may change drastically. If you don't want to go too deeply into the origins of their personalities or their psyche, stay away from this chapter! You've been warned!

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**Chapter 4: Descent into Insanity**

'_**S**top it. I don't want to feel this anymore. Make it go away. Break it. Break my heart. Make me forget you. I hate these emotions. I want to be me again so leave me alone. No! Don't leave me alone. I...I don't know what to do. So make it stop. Don't make me feel anymore...these emotions of insanity.'_

**H**alfwayto the dango shop, Sasori collapsed, his face in the dirt. At first, he thought that he had tripped, so he didn't think twice about it and tried to get up again. But his limbs didn't work properly. In fact, none of his efforts were gaining any results.

It was in the midst of struggling like a dying puppet that it hit him. _'Oh yeah.'_ He needed to breathe. He was running so fast that he had forgotten that he was human. And humans needed to breathe.

Sasori sank to the ground with a heavy groan. If he was a puppet, he wouldn't have to worry about something stupid like breathing. When he was a puppet, he ran as fast as he wanted, for however long he wanted, and he never needed something so useless as breathing.

He was never going to get used to breathing again.

Sasori sighed, breathing as quickly as he could. He needed to get to Sakura before Kakashi took her away. He certainly wasn't going to let Kakashi take his Sa–

The Suna-nin choked at the sudden thought, the air lodging itself in his throat. _'Kuso!'_ He didn't just think that! "Arrgh!" His hands flew to his head, holding it in sudden agony. This was a headache he didn't think he needed to worry about. Sakura's name... He didn't just use a possessive pronoun with Sakura's name!

Then his memory kicked in. He had already thought it. Twice. During his fight with Tobi.

'_What's wrong with me!'_ He didn't think of her that way! It was Sakura! She was his master! That was it! In fact, she wasn't even his master! She was nothing! She was nothing to him! Nothing!

Sasori sank back, his mind in complete disarray as he stared at the sky. Around him, he was faintly aware of people passing in this busy street staring at his unusual behaviour, but he didn't care. His mind was covered in torment.

Sakura... The girl had already seeped into his mind. She was slowly taking over his personality. And he knew it. More than half the words he said aloud weren't his own. Those belonged to Sakura.

And it seemed as if she was slowly taking over the rest of him as well. Not just his body but his mind! She was driving him insane! His Sakura. His Sakura. She wasn't _his _Sakura! What was he thinking!

Mortification filled his body as his mind dwelled on the subject, twirling it around and examining it until he screamed in fury. _'I didn't say it out loud, did I?'_ He tried to remember, but couldn't remember anything except the phrase. _'Kuso!'_ He didn't shout it when he was fighting Tobi... _'I think.'_ He couldn't remember, and the more he tried to remember, the more he couldn't. There was only Sakura...and the fact that he had almost lost. To a useless minion. A subordinate.

And his mortification deepened. That wasn't true! He couldn't have slipped so far from his original level. He wasn't weak!

Sasori stared at his human hands, gripped it into a tight fist and memorized the tightening of his skin. The stretch of his muscles and the rubbery grate of his fingers against his palm...he had forgotten this. Sakura wasn't in distress or calling for him. This was the first time he could really reacquaint himself with being human again. Perhaps, he could even try to become strong again.

'_No!'_ He couldn't be strong if he was still human! That was why he had become a puppet. He couldn't gain the strength he desired in this weak body, this inferior state. He needed his puppet body back.

'_Waah! Sasori where are you!'_ Sakura's shout ran through Sasori's mind for a jarring second.

And the Suna-nin swore under his breath. It was infallible. He knew it would happen. All he had to do was close his eyes and focus on a sense, and Sakura's thoughts would come through. She would be calling him, and he would have to go to her.

'_Not this time!'_ Sasori reached behind him, grabbing onto the dirt road with both hands. He wasn't going to go to Sakura this time! She wasn't going to control him. He wasn't going to allow her to control him. It wasn't going to happen!

His fingers dug into the ground as his body tried to obey. His head screamed in agony as the searing hot pain of resisting rushed through him, numbing his mind, numbing his body, numbing his muscles. They threatened to loosen and pull him to the pink-haired girl's side. Already, his arms tore his fingers away, throwing his body forwards, in the direction of the dango shop.

'_No!'_ Sasori pulled his limbs back. They were a part of _his _body! He wasn't going to allow Sakura to control him! _'I'm not!'_

And his body wasn't moving. His body wasn't moving?

Sasori looked around, confusion slowly filling his body at the strange occurrence. His arms still stretched towards the sky, threatening to pull him out, but even though he was pushing his body against the ground, he was still anchored. He wasn't moving. And it was only when he looked at his sides that he saw what it was.

He had forgotten they were there. It was natural to have them, so he had forgotten that they weren't a part of his body. They weren't a part of the normal body. That was probably why they didn't obey Sakura.

His shoulder blades had dug down, keeping his body flat against the ground.

It was a strange sight. He knew that he must look weird, grabbing onto the ground in such desperation, but he was relieved. The first time he tried to disobey Sakura, and it was a success. She stopped calling for him after awhile. He didn't have to go to her. He didn't have to obey her. And he wasn't falling apart.

'_This is only the first step,'_ he resolved as he pulled his body from the ground, the dirt crumbling around his shoulder blades. This was only the first step. Soon, he wouldn't have to obey her at all. Soon, he could leave her behind.

**S**asuke's head hurt. Sasuke's eyes hurt. Sasuke's arms and legs hurt. Everything hurt. But nothing hurt as badly as the pain in his chest. He thought that there was something wrong with his lungs, or his heart, or it was just indigestion. But he was healthy. He was always healthy. He had taken exceptional care of himself in preparation for his fight with his brother. The fight had passed, but the habit was still there. There wasn't anything physically wrong with him.

Except that his hands itched. His hands wanted to summon Naruto back. He wanted Naruto back so that he could hold him again. But... _'No!'_ ...he can't do it. His hands shook at the first seal. His hands shook at the second seal. His hands refused to finish it. His hands didn't want to do it. _'I can't.'_ His mind wouldn't allow it.

The memory was still too fresh. His arms still remembered Naruto's body. His hands had memorized each curve of the blond shinobi's body, the softness of his clothes against his chest. And the horror of falling ash.

No matter how many times he blinked, his eyes still remembered. He still saw the ineradicable sight with every moment. His memory pulled it up with each brief instant of darkness. Naruto... Naruto's fear pouring into him. Naruto's body crumbling against his touch. Naruto's pained face at not being able to hide it from him. Naruto's body exploding into ash.

"Arrgh!" His shout rebounded against the walls of his father's house, but there was no one to hear him. He was alone. And he was going to be alone until he...

Sasuke stared at his hands.

...until he could finally summon Naruto again.

But that was impossible. He couldn't do it. The thought of Naruto vanishing like that again. The fear and pain contorting Naruto's face. That fear that gripped his chest...a stronger fear than what stopped him when he first fought Orochimaru in the Forest of Death years ago. It chained his hands together, making the seals impossible to perform. It wasn't possible.

Even if his hands itched.

'_Naruto...'_ Sasuke thought longingly. There was a chance. There was a big chance. There was a very big chance that...he would never see him again. _'Onegai-des.'_ But he couldn't make it go away. He couldn't make himself stop wanting to see him. _'Naruto...'_ Even though he tried to convince himself that Naruto was a loudmouth, clumsy, annoying, loser of a ninja who wasn't worth his time, he couldn't stop. It was all the truth, and he had already known it long ago when he first allowed these emotions to spread through him. He could have killed it then. But he didn't, because he wanted to love him. And now, it was too late. He couldn't take it back.

He was in love with him.

'_Come back to me.'_

Sasuke rolled across the hard tatami mats beneath his body so that he stared at the ceiling of his room, out the open shouji doors into the yard. This same room...this was the room he sometimes shared with his brother. The house was large enough. There were enough rooms for both he and Itachi to have their own rooms, but sometimes, his brother would share his room with him. But it was always Sasuke who went to his brother. It was never the other way around. He never knew that his brother hated him until that day...when he told him.

And he was still oblivious. He was still the same oblivious person he was back then. He didn't know. He couldn't know. Did Naruto love him? Sasuke knew how he felt, but that meant nothing if Naruto didn't feel the same way. What did the jinchuuriki feel? If he brought him back now, would he...could he...tell him?

But he knew that it was impossible. Naruto wasn't the same. If he asked the blond shinobi, his subconscious mind would only impose an answer on him. He would never tell him the truth, and even if it was the truth, Sasuke would never know. Even if he specifically asked for the truth, it could still be a lie.

'_Kuchiyose...'_ Sasuke's hands shook uncontrollably at the first seal, his brain pounding behind his eyes as his hands froze at the second seal. His tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth, drying completely, choking him with his effort. Every movement was slower than it should be. These were the seals of a novice, someone who barely knew Edo Tensei, who barely knew _seals_. His hands didn't want to do it. His memory didn't want to do it. He couldn't do it again. His hands refused to obey. The image of Naruto was quickly fading from his life.

"Aggh!" Sasuke sat up, anger surging through his body as he stared angrily at his hands. _'Naruto... Naruto...'_ His hands defied him! His hands wouldn't bring Naruto back to him! He wanted Naruto. He wanted Naruto back! Why wouldn't they... Why wouldn't they...

He had asked so nicely. He had asked them. He had begged them. Onegai-des. He had said it, even though he had never said it before in his life! Why were they mocking him? Why wouldn't they obey him? They were his hands, weren't they?

But these pale hands... These bony hands... These strange hands... These weren't his hands!

'_Whose hands are these!'_ Sasuke grabbed his kunai pouch at his side, a kunai in one of the two strange hands. _'Who has taken my hands!'_

He stared, his eyes wide as he held a kunai over the foreign limb. He remembered nothing. There was nothing. There was no time when someone could have come in, taken his hands and given him these defective things...these things that wouldn't obey him. Pale...almost white...skin, reflecting all the light around it. Fingers...not like his at all. These were... They were...

The dark-haired shinobi stared down at the fingers until only a single name remained in his mind. _'Orochimaru!'_ Orochimaru! These were...

The kunai in Sasuke's hand rammed down, through the pale hand held against the clean tatami mat.

...Orochimaru's hands.

Sasuke's mind pounded slowly as he stared at the kunai embedded in pale flesh. His hand... He couldn't feel it. There was no pain. _'It can't be.'_ He couldn't have been right. It was just a hallucination, right? It couldn't possibly be...

He held up the hand, examined it. Blood poured from the wound, leaking from the sides of the kunai. But there was no pain. There was still nothing. Why? Why was there nothing? His heart pounded at the sight of so much blood but there was no pain. Even though his mind told him that he should be feeling something–even a small bit of discomfort at having foreign metal embedded in his hand–there was nothing. There was nothing!

Sasuke grabbed the kunai, stabbing his hand repeatedly. Again. And again. And again. But there was still nothing. There was no pain. There was no panic. There were only the disappointed expectations that had risen in his chest. That was all.

Then, slowly, it sank in. The pain. The burning pain that came with being alive. And relief rushed through his body. These were _his _hands. He really was just hallucinating. It was impossible that these were Orochimaru's hands. Orochimaru was a kugutsu. That was it. That was all. Orochimaru couldn't come into his house and steal his hands.

But this wasn't what he wanted either. Where was his dobe? Where was Naruto, running in worried circles, worrying about what Kakashi had told him the day they left for Mizu no Kuni. If he kept bleeding, he was going to seriously die. Yes. That was what Kakashi had said.

A small smile crept onto Sasuke's face at the memory. He remembered Naruto running in circles, having no idea how to stop the bleeding. That realistic pain. That unforgettable pain. That was what ran up his spine from his hand.

But it wasn't what he wanted. This wasn't Naruto's pain. This wasn't the pain of the undead. No. The undead pain was different.

Sasuke lifted his kunai again, slicing across his arm, peeling back his skin until there was only exposed flesh. But the wincing pain was still different. This wasn't what he was searching for.

The kunai fell from Sasuke's hand, dropping to the tatami mat with a soft clink as his eyes fixed on the bleeding wound on his arm. _'Che!'_ The dark-haired boy grabbed his arm, lifting his hand quickly at the searing pain that rushed up from contact with his rough skin. _'What was I thinking!'_ He had cut himself so cleanly. He had lifted his skin directly off his arms without a second thought. What... What was wrong with him!

But it still wasn't enough. The peace he was searching for...there wasn't enough. That peace he had achieved from that one cut...that calmness that had claimed him in the instant he lifted his skin away...wasn't long enough.

'_Peace.'_ Forgetfulness. In that instant, Naruto had faded from his mind and he could regain control of his emotions again. In that instant...

Sasuke grabbed the nearest piece of cloth, a white blanket atop his futon. He needed to stop the bleeding. He had no intention of dying. That was obvious. What was the point of finding peace if he couldn't survive to enjoy it?

**T**he forest swirled in his sight before he collapsed to the ground, his chest tightening with every breath. Tobi couldn't see anything but darkness, but that was okay. He was ready for this poison. "Zetsu-sama," he whispered into the air. Even though he couldn't see him, he knew that he was there.

"**You failed. Die."**

"Ah, but you tried," Zetsu mused.

"**It was still a failure!"**

"..." Zetsu couldn't really argue with that. It was true.

"Zetsu-sama, I–" Tobi couldn't think of a good argument. He had failed. According to the 'laws' of their organization, he shouldn't survive. The leader had said that if he failed, it would only be because of his death.

And he really was dying.

"I'm not helping you," Zetsu decided. Sasori had probably thought of it already, and if he did, he was right. Zetsu didn't like this kind of subordinate. No one did. He was too enthusiastic. Enthusiasm wasn't a bad thing, but too much of it was annoying. He wanted to advance in the organization, and if anything, the worse thing that can happen to anyone in a position such as Zetsu's was for one of his men to stand on equal ground as him. "You failed. Die like you were supposed to." This was the perfect time to get rid of him.

"I have interesting information..." Tobi said through the suffocating darkness that threatened to pull him into unconsciousness. "...about the Kyuubi." He knew that he needed to barter his way out of death. He had thought of it before he even went to fight Sasori. His earlier fears had driven him that far. And when he couldn't find the Kyuubi, he knew that he would need it even more than ever.

Zetsu was an spy, a man whose life revolved around information. He wouldn't be able to resist something like this.

"Information?"

"Yes."

"**Tell us before we kill you!"**

"Antidote..." Tobi groaned, his head sinking to the ground. He couldn't lift it anymore. Three days. Sasori's standard poison. But this one was two days! It was even stronger. "Zetsu-sama..." He wasn't going to tell Zetsu anything until he received the antidote.

Zetsu was a plant. It was obvious with the plant limbs growing from his body. Because of this, he had an affinity with poisons made by Akasuna no Sasori. All of Sasori's poisons were made from the poisons of plants. It was easy for Zetsu to determine which plants were used–and the exact quantities of what was used although Tobi wasn't exactly sure how Zetsu figured that out–and what to use as antidote even if he wasn't a medic-nin. _'Although he could be...'_ Tobi wasn't sure. His master never talked about himself. Minions didn't need to know who they were following. They just needed to be obedient.

"Waah!" Tobi screamed as sudden pain clamped onto his arm and refused to let go. He waved it furiously until Zetsu released him. "What are you doing!" He was just about to fall into a peaceful sleep, but Zetsu had to...eat...his arm!

Zetsu licked his lips. **"If you don't give me a sample of your blood, I won't know what poisons he..."** Zetsu trailed off, thinking to himself. _'Interesting...'_ The poisons didn't taste that bad.

Tobi stared at Zetsu for as long as he could before the poison took hold of his body again. He should have known. His master was part plant. Plant poisons didn't work on plants. At least, not in small doses.

Then, Tobi slipped into unconsciousness. When he awoke next, the poison had left his body.

**K**akashi watched Sakura slowly eat her dango. She was so calm, as if he wasn't there, as if he wasn't asking her to make an impossible decision. She couldn't hear his message. She had already decided. He couldn't imagine why she was even sitting in front of him. She wasn't going to listen to him anyway. "Sakura," the grey-haired jounin said slowly, drawing her attention. Aqua green eyes looked directly at him, and he couldn't find his words anymore. If he asked her now, would she push him away?

But she already knew what he was going to say. "Don't repeat yourself, sensei. You don't even repeat your excuses twice." She was pushing him away. Her answer was no.

The day was slower than he thought it would be. He had thought he would have asked her by then, properly. All he had done was shout it to her, and she hadn't even heard him. She hadn't heard his reasons or his expectations. The fleeting answer she had given him was unsatisfactory, making a light imprint on his memory before evaporating away.

The cool air of midwinter flew past them as Kakashi realized that he was suddenly walking down the street. He couldn't remember when they had left the dango shop, but they really were coming closer to Sakura's house. She was almost gone. Again.

"Sakura," he said after what he realized was a long time. The jounin grabbed the pink-haired girl's hand, drawing her attention to him. "Listen to me!" His voice was growing frantic. If he didn't say it now, there wasn't going to be a second chance. "I–"

His words vanished as the girl turned to him, his uncovered eye widening in shock. _'I promised.'_ That was what he was going to say. But...

'_Kakashi...take care of Rin.'_ Obito's last request still echoed in his head.

...this wasn't Rin! He never made that kind of promise for Sakura.

"Sensei?" The worried expression on Kakashi's face was too vivid to ignore. "Daijoubu?"

"It...it's nothing. Shinpainai," Kakashi said slowly, his voice still shaking with uncertainty. This wasn't Rin! _'Stop thinking that!' _ It wasn't her. "I'm leaving." He turned away from Sakura before she could see the blood drain from his face.

"Okay," Sakura said, mildly surprised as she watched the grey-haired man walk away. "J-ja ne, sensei." She didn't know what was annoying him, but it wasn't as if she could do anything about it now. He had already walked away.

**End Chapter 4**

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Fire's English tidbits for those who care:

Numbers part two! Figures! First, there are the obvious places. Figures are used when there are fractions or mixed numbers, before an abbreviation or symbol of any kind, in charts (ie tables) and numbering a list or series, and to express street numbers, room or apartment numbers, telephone numbers, amounts of money, temperature, percentages, sports scores, any identification number, air flight (for planes) or train numbers, postal codes/area codes, television channels, pages of any written material and divisions such as chapters and volumes. I don't think anyone has ever spelled it fully for any of these. Then, there are the more confusing places. Use figures to distinguish sets of numbers from another within the same sentence or a group of sentences. For example, "Naruto has 2-minute cup ramen, 3-minute cup ramen and 5-minute cup ramen in those five boxes but he only eats the 2-minute cup ramen since they cook faster," is preferable to "Naruto has two-minute cup ramen, three-minute cup ramen and five-minute cup ramen in those five boxes but he only east the two-minute cup ramen since they cook faster." This is plainly because it's easier to read. Which ramen does Naruto eat? Waah! I can barely read it in the second sentence! Ahem. The next one is with expressions of time. Of course we all use numbers to tell time, but if you're not using a decimal (ie half past, a quarter to, twenty of, in the morning) or you're using "o'clock" spell it out. So, it's 10:00 or 10 A.M. but it's ten o'clock, and it's 10:40 but it's twenty to eleven. The last one is dates. Everyone has a way to say dates and since there are so many ways, I'm going to leave that alone. If you're really curious, send me a PM or review. Simply, use figures for specific years (ie. The Naruto manga series has been running from 1999-2006 and is expected to continue) but spell out centuries (ie. I doubt it'll last until the twenty-second century). Don't say 22nd century! That's wrong! Arrgh! I'm going to bomb whoever said that in the first place! It's driving me crazy! Well, that's all. I know it's long. Don't kill me!

Fire's babbling:

Naruto: No! You're telling them everything about my ramen!

Sasuke: It's obvious once you think about it. You _do_ hate waiting for your ramen to cook.

Fire: (rummaging for explosives) Let's see…grenades? No. Too small. C4? No. Too difficult to hide. C3? No. Too volatile.

Kisame: You're going to bomb a person right? Not an entire corporation. Go with the napalm.

Fire: (happily holding up the napalm) Kisame! You're always good at things like this!

Sasuke: Just don't drop that on yourself. Knowing you, you'll just hurt yourself with that.

Naruto: (grabbing the napalm) No! Bad! No bombing people!

Kisame: Insanity has finally taken hold of Fire! We can go killing together!

Fire: I'm not insane!

Sasuke: Ahem! (points at the straightjacket)

Fire: Naruto! Don't put straightjackets on me!

Naruto: (quickly fastens the rest of the buckles) This is just a precaution. What if you destroy Konoha?

Fire: I can't type like this.

Kisame: I'm typing.

Fire: (looks directly at Kisame) You're not helping.

Sasori: Vote for me!

Sakura: No! Don't vote for this maniac!

Deidara: Yes. Point at Sasori-sama. That means you should all vote for me, yeah!

Sakura: No! Vote for someone normal! Like Sasuke-kun! (points avidly at Sasuke)

Sasuke: I already said it! (shakes Naruto in front of Sakura) I LOVE NARUTO! Stop trying to steal me away!

Naruto: Waah! Stop shaking me! I'll send Naruto summoning here next time so you can't do this, Sasuke!

Sasuke: (stops and hugs Naruto) No!

Fire: Send in your reviews. (looks at the fight breaking out between Sakura and Sasori) Um…opinions are welcome. Please tell me what you think about the story. You don't have to vote if you don't want to.

Kisame: (explaining) Fire's distracted by the fight.

Fire: Ah! Please send in your reviews!

Kisame: Finally broke out of watching that! (points to the puppet trying to throw Sakura across the room)

Fire: Send in your reviews! I need to know if the story makes sense! My mind is so jumbled!

Kisame: You mean insane?

Fire: I'm not insane! I just have too many storylines in here! They mix up with each other! Tell me if this makes sense!

Kisame: Especially since Fire wrote this in one day and proofread this in two days. We read this over and realized we needed a transitional chapter otherwise the story doesn't make sense. Hence, this was written. That means we did it in three days. If it seems insane, Fire will need to make a few changes when we load the next chapter.

Fire: I'm not insane!

Kisame: Ja! I'm going to get Fire's medicine. (pulls Fire away)

Fire: Stop saying I'm insane! I don't even eat medicine!

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	6. Five: Acts of Insanity

Sasori: Vote for me!

Fire: (pushes Sasori out the window) …

Sasuke: (matter-of-fact)That's a real window.

Sasori: (climbs back in through the window, angry) What did you do that for!

Fire: (pushes Sasori out the computer window) You've been repeating yourself for the last four chapters. I don't want you advertising anymore.

Sakura: Yay!

Sasuke: Our next interview is… (looks at the resume) Inuzuka…

Fire: Kiba?

Sasuke: …Akamaru.

Akamaru: (happy) Arf!

Fire: (apprehensive) Can you even carry the bag?

Akamaru: Arf! Arr...arf! ARF!

Fire: I can't understand a thing you're saying.

Akamaru: (whines) Hnnn….

Fire: (turns to Kiba) Kiba, where's my bag?

Kiba: I'malso applying for the job.

Sasuke: It says Akamaru and Kiba.

Kisame: (taunting) Your dog's name is first?

Fire: (leers at Kisame) Samehada's name is first.

Kisame: That's different!

Kiba: (annoyed) Here's your bag. We're leaving. (leaves with Akamaru)

Fire: Well, another failed interview.

Kisame: It's different!

Fire: (pulls out the review window) …

Sasori: (happy) More votes for me!

Deidara: (somewhat afraid of Sasori) I got votes too, but why do I have to fight with Sasori-sama, yeah?

Sakura: (shouting in anger) Why are you all bloating Sasori's ego like that!

Fire: Thank you to everyone who voted. I'm glad everyone likes this pairing. It's one of my favourites, although I'm disappointed in the Kakashi opposition. Where are your votes! Anyway, KakaSaku is still going to be in this story along with the SasoSaku, so don't worry about it. You'll see why later.

Sasuke: Fire's just weird this way.

Fire: I'm not weird! And this is going to be the darkest chapter in this book, so don't worry about anything worse happening to Sakura. Nothing worse can possibly happen.

Sakura: (narrowing eyes at Fire)Are you trying to jinx me?

Fire: (nervous sweat) Anyway, here's the story! And remember the warning! (pulls up chapter 5)

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Disclaimer: The phrase, "my dobe" and all subsequent combinations of possessive pronouns with the word "dobe" belongs to Fire. Don't use it! I'll send Kisame after you! This phrase is not for rent, and I don't plan on lending it to anyone.

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Warning: This chapter contains scenes of self-mutilation, cutting, excessive blood, insanity and rape. If any of the above disturbs you, please refrain from reading. But since none of these are very descriptive, I'm keeping it at a T-15 rating. Tell me if you think this should go up.

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**Chapter 5: Acts of Insanity**

'_**G**omen nasai. I can't do it. Every road I walk on leads me back to you. I can't stay away, even though I tried to leave. I'm trying to hide them from you, but these emotions won't fade. So if you don't mind, let me watch you just for a little while longer, and just for a while, don't hate me.'_

**S**asuke had been missing for a few days. He hadn't come to see her after work, and it hadn't escaped Sakura's attention. She didn't know what to do. He and Naruto had stopped coming at the end of the day, although Kakashi never failed to wait for her at the hospital entrance now that he had broken the ice.

But even with Kakashi drawing her attention, she still wanted to see Sasuke. Was something wrong? Was he angry at her? Did something happen to Naruto? She couldn't help thinking that something had happened. She couldn't help worrying that something had happened.

She knew where he was. There wasn't a single kunoichi in Konoha who didn't know where he was. He was sitting in his house within the Uchiha estate, a single house surrounded by the empty houses of dead men and women. She was just confused about whether she should visit him or not.

She had no real right to do it anymore. She wasn't his girlfriend. She wasn't his teammate. She wasn't family. She was hardly a friend. And she wasn't Naruto. There was no way that she could just open the gates to the Uchiha estate and walk in. There was no way that she could walk up to his house and see him. She couldn't even imagine him standing there. She didn't have the right to do it.

She wouldn't know what to say.

Would he tell her to go away? Would he tell her that he didn't need her around? These questions burned in her mind. She wanted to see him. She really wanted to see him.

"Then, go and see him. You're acting like a brainless woman." Sasori watched the girl as she made her way from one side of the bedroom to the other. Again. "Just stop that damned pacing!" He stopped for a moment, his mind dwelling on his words as he watched the girl walk back and forth. "Unless you don't want to see him?"

Sakura glared wordlessly at the redhead as she continued pacing. Unlike most summonings, the Suna-nin could read her mind. She had forgotten about it again.

"No?"

She didn't answer him.

"Why not? It's not that complicated."

'_Yes! It is!'_

Sasori rubbed his ears as the girl's thoughts shouted through his mind. That hurt. That really hurt. "Okay. I heard you. You didn't have to yell."

"Then how would you know I'm serious?" Sakura sat down at her desk, her eyes fixed on the genin group picture. "Sasuke-kun..." She smiled sadly at the memories that came to mind. They were the simple memories of a time long past, memories of a time never to come again. "...doesn't want to see me."

"Yeah. That's true," Sasori said seriously, shrugging at her remark. "No one wants to see an ugly girl like you, all forehead and brains, and no appeal right?" But guilt rose at those words. She was seriously hurt by what he said, and he felt it distinctly in his chest. "That's why he keeps coming to see you, right? He likes ugly insane girls like that." It wasn't a good attempt at making her feel better, but it was still an attempt.

Sakura glared at the redhead. "I'm not insane!" She shouted at him. She was insane before. She wasn't insane now. Her mind was lucid. Lucid! That meant she knew what she was feeling, and she knew why she was feeling it. "That's..." She stood up, her legs stretching after a long sit. "...just because of Naruto." Sasuke never wanted to see her. He only came because Naruto wanted to see her, and Naruto wanted to see her only because he was still attached to her. There were no longer any real feelings there. It was for the sake of ritual and nothing more. The days when the three of them were together was gone.

Sasori's eyes widened at the expression that rose at the word Naruto. There was a touch of what was in her eyes when she first fought him. "Do you..." He couldn't believe she was capable of something like that. "...hate him?" It was hatred. He was sure it was hatred. It was the same seething hatred that she had when he said he was going to kill his grandmother.

"Why would I hate Naruto?" Sakura's voice was light as she denied it. "I have no reason to hate him. He makes Sasuke-kun happy." She turned, her eyes falling onto the red dress adorning the mannequin. She didn't even know why she never put it away. She hadn't worn it in a very long time. "I really..." She had no reason to wear it. The memories meant for this dress was too far away to reach. "...have no reason to hate him." They were too far away, unlike this dress.

Her hands reached forwards, her fingers running over the red cloth, spilling all the emotions she had bottled within her heart, bursting at the soft memories that filled her mind. And she pulled the dress out.

'_Now get out!'_ The stern command pulled Sasori's limbs from the ground and dragged him outside. Then, there was only the forced humming of a song and the rustling of cloth.

The Suna-nin stared at the door that had suddenly arisen between him and the pink-haired girl. If she didn't hate him, why was she nervous about that question? There was no reason to repeat herself. He understood her the first time.

She hated him.

"Ikimasu!" Sakura shouted to her parents as she ran out of her room, dragging Sasori after her.

As soon as she touched the dress, she couldn't deny it. Her mind had decided. Even if Sasuke didn't love her, even if he didn't want to see her, even if he wanted to lock himself in a house filled only with misery, she still worried about him. That was why she couldn't leave him alone. She couldn't not see him. She had to make sure that he was okay.

So, she was going to the Uchiha estate. Many fangirls–just the shinobi fangirls since they had skills that regular fangirls just didn't have–had gotten into the estate before. There was no reason for anything to bar her from him. Besides, she was his friend, not a really close friend anymore, but still his friend. She couldn't stop worrying about him.

"You're going to see him?"

"Damare." She hated to admit it, but Sasori was right. She should see him. And that was what she was going to do...after stopping by the dango shop, and maybe the grocery story, and...

"Don't procrastinate like you did yesterday."

"I said damare!"

**T**obi's head hurt. It had to be the antidote. That was what was hurting his head. Zetsu-sama definitely wasn't going to be easy on him after he failed his mission. But Zetsu wasn't around. As Tobi looked all around him, he could see only emptiness. The trees didn't hide his master's form, and the grass didn't hold his malice.

But that just meant it wasn't time to see them yet. It took time to send messages to all of them, and it was Zetsu's job as the master spy, to know where all the members of their organization were, and to gather them for meetings like this. Meetings like the one Tobi didn't want to go to.

He had failed, but he had told Zetsu that he had important information about the Kyuubi. Of course, he would want Tobi to personally tell everyone. Then, he would probably get eaten by Zetsu.

Tobi shivered. It wasn't his fault that he had failed. He had thought that Sasori would be weaker. Sasori should be weaker. He didn't have his puppet body anymore. But that cunning mind was still sharp. And Tobi hadn't thought that he would have Orochimaru with him. That was certainly a surprise, and it was the upper hand that Sasori needed. If he hadn't been distracted by it... If he hadn't been distracted by it... He would have lost anyway. He knew. That Suna-nin would have thought of something else. After all, he was a genius. That puppet body was only a bonus, to sharpen his skills.

But the jinchuuriki... Information about the jinchuuriki wasn't difficult to determine. Zetsu would probably be able to come to the same conclusion if he went into Konoha and actively searched for him. It wasn't very interesting information, although it could be interesting to someone hearing it for the first time.

He only hoped that he didn't get killed for it.

**T**he house was empty. There wasn't even a pile of ashes on the ground to mark the absence of his blond companion. There was only emptiness, the dark shadows that lined every corner, and the cold wind that blew in from the gardens. Sasuke liked having the house cold. It kept the memories away.

The house was always warm when Itachi was still here and he liked to keep the memory of Itachi as far away from himself as possible. The man was dead, and there was no reason to think of him anymore.

Naruto hadn't returned for a few days. Sasuke was beginning to think that he was insane for letting him go, but he had decided it a few days ago. He couldn't allow him to die like that. He had to find a way to revive him, really revive him. He had to find a way to bring him back.

It must have been painful. Naruto probably didn't tell him because he was afraid that Sasuke might stop bringing him back. He wanted to be with Naruto as much as Naruto wanted to be with him. That was the problem. Sasuke just wanted to be with him so much that he was probably ignoring Naruto's pain.

It was painful. Sasuke remembered that it was painful. His entire body exploding in ashes. That was a sensation unlike any other in the living world. He was glad to be rid of it. But falling into pieces everyday must have been worse. Every second, a piece of himself fell to the ground.

And he couldn't tell Sasuke that he was in pain.

'_Chikusho!'_ He really was a horrible boyfriend. He hadn't thought about Naruto once, only about his selfish self.

Sasuke wasn't the kind of person to yell at himself, to demean himself, but it was becoming more difficult. He wanted to scream at the world for making him so horrible. That was why he couldn't do it. He couldn't bring himself to bring Naruto back. He couldn't bring Naruto back to such a horrible person.

Trails of blood lined the invisible paths that Sasuke walked on, the familiar paths through the house that only Sasuke knew were there. He tore at himself every night, his hands on bloody kunai, encrusted with the blood of days past. No matter what, he was still too sane to kill himself. It would take a few more days until then, when the kunai would sink further into his body.

Sasuke had settled himself at the edge of his room, his head staring out at the garden, his hands clutching blood soaked blankets, soaked with dried blood. He was alive. He was really alive. That was the problem.

He couldn't remember what it was like to be dead. He didn't remember anything from then. Those few months before his return to the world of the living was as much a mystery to him as it was to the rest of the living. But he was sure Naruto was there. And he was sure that Naruto and he were happy. Probably.

Probably happier than he was now.

"Naruto..."

He was trying to find it. That unearthly pain that he had felt while he was still dead, the unfeeling peace that came with death. However, the kunai was doing nothing but the usual. Blood. The surreal tingle that marked the breaking of his skin. The ease of ripping through muscle. There was no numbness, no cold that marked the reformation of his limbs.

He was alive.

"Sasuke-kun!" The voice intruded in his thoughts, and it took him another moment before he saw pink hair over his face. A warm green light glowed from his chest, his arms and legs, and he knew who it was. "Sasuke-kun, what happened? Were you attacked!"

"No," Sasuke pulled himself away before his wounds could close. It would close on his own. He didn't want it to stop yet...because at least when his body bled, his heart was intact. "Stay away from me!" He wouldn't threaten to fall apart at the constant thoughts of Naruto.

Sakura grabbed the dark-haired boy by the arms. Panic had spread throughout her body. She had never seen Sasuke bleed so much, bleed so profusely that he couldn't knock her hands away. He could only back away, his hands sticky red, smearing the ground as he pushed himself away. "But, you're bleeding all over your house, Sasuke-kun!"

_Sakura had left Sasori outside. It was one thing for her to come into Sasuke's house without an invitation, but it was another to bring a guest with her. That was too rude to even consider. "Stay here. I'll be right back," the pink-haired girl said as she turned to the gates. They were unlocked, but that was because no one really wanted to go into the old Uchiha estate. Lately, there had been rumours going around the younger kids that it was haunted. She wouldn't be surprised if it was._

_Sakura had been to Sasuke's house before. She remembered once long ago, when she was still in the Academy. Like all fangirls, she had thought to sit with him in his house for a while and pretend that they were married. She could see how ridiculous it was now. But at that time, it really was a nice dream._

_But the point was, all Sasuke fangirls knew the way to his house. There was no mystery as to which house it was, no mystery as to whether or not he lived above one of the eternally closed shops that lined the streets of the Uchiha estate. It was a true ghost town, their shops and houses inhabited only by ghosts._

_The only person on the entire estate was Sasuke, and he wasn't that far from being a ghost either. The house he lived in, the house he moved into after returning from Oto no Sato since his apartment was rented to someone else long ago, his father's house that was passed down through the generations from one head of the Uchiha clan to the next, was exactly the kind of house she expected to be haunted. She wouldn't have been surprised if Itachi, Fugaku or Mikoto opened the door for her. _

_But the door was already open. There was no need for anyone to open it. _

"_Sasuke-kun?" Sakura took a cautious step into the house. She had thought that the door would be closed, but thought twice about it. That didn't make sense. Sasuke could keep his house however he wanted. No one would come onto the estate._

_Besides, the door was still broken from before his death. He hadn't fixed it._

"_Sasuke-kun?"_

_The thick scent of blood filled the air with a dense cloud. As she neared the interior of the house, dark red splotches marked the floor panels. At first, Sakura had thought it was old blood, from the massacre, but that was ridiculous. That blood would have been washed away long ago._

"_Sasuke-kun, are you in here?"_

_This was new blood. _

_The interior halls and the individual rooms were unnaturally cold. Sakura was glad that she hadn't removed her jacket when she walked in. She would have been freezing at that moment if she had. _

'_Sasuke-kun can't possibly be in here,' she thought as she wandered around, following the trails of blood that only grew thicker with every step. Footprints marked the passage of another person through these halls, but that was the only sign that anyone was in this house. It really seemed as if it was haunted._

_Sakura almost turned around and ran when she heard the whispered word in the other room. "Naruto..." That was Sasuke's voice!_

_The pink-haired girl ran forwards into the room, her entire body freezing in fear as her eyes landed on the red-clad figure at the open paper doors. At the height of winter, he sat with the doors wide open, blood pooling around him._

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura tightened her grip around the dark-haired boy's arm. His clothes were torn from the many kunai slashes he had inflicted upon himself. She couldn't imagine what he must have been thinking, but it was horrifying. He was coated with dried blood rivers.

However, Sasuke wasn't going to let her come closer. Pain shot through his body, constricting his movements, but he wasn't going to let her come any closer. He wasn't going to allow her to heal him.

With an angry hand, he swung the kunai at her, catching her palm before she fell back, but her hands came together to seal the wound before it could even bleed. Sasuke was crazed. There was no way to get to him.

"Naruto," Sasuke said through heavy breaths as he looked across to Sakura. His mind was clouded with never-ending thoughts of his dobe. "Naruto..." All he could see was Naruto. There was no one else in his universe.

"Sasuke-kun..." Even in the blood thick atmosphere of this room, Sakura had heard clearly. Even in insanity, he only thought of Naruto. She couldn't help being a little jealous. Her eyes fell to the ground, covered in the blood tears of one suffering, and she could only feel her heart rip apart at the knowledge that it wasn't her. She could never make Sasuke feel this pain. This pain could only be caused by Naruto. Only Naruto–

The thought was cut short as Sakura's body rammed against the wall, rattling her mind and knocking the air from her lungs before she slid to the ground. Sasuke had thrown her across the room in his madness and that was when she felt fear grip her body again. Her arms and legs shook with nostalgic fear, the fear of a genin long ago, the fear she had felt in the Forest of Death when Sasuke and Naruto lay as if dead behind her. And as Sasuke came closer, she lost the ability to move because surely this time, she was going to die.

**T**he mental scream cut through Sasori's mind, pulling his head from his thoughts. There was the faint memory of panic, pain and fear running through his body as he thought of Sakura. The girl was in danger.

'_And she waits until now to call me!'_ Fury shot up at the sudden realization. _'That baka!'_

He had thought about leaving her alone. The evil side of him that wanted to hurt her told him to wait, but he couldn't stop himself. It was partially his fault for telling her to come, and partially his fault for being so engrossed in his senses that he couldn't remember he was supposed to wait for her return.

And the pain. The girl was in a lot of pain. A cutting pain that sliced up from his belly into his entire body. Sasori was completely disgusted. It made him want to vomit.

'_Sasori!'_ Sakura's voice came louder as the Suna-nin came closer. It was coming from down the hall. _'Sasori!'_

"Kuso!" Sasori turned his head away as he threw the door open. Even with the cold wind blowing in through the open paper doors, the stench of blood was thick within that room. But that wasn't what made him turn his head.

His unprepared mind wasn't ready to see what his eyes had seen.

Even in Akatsuki, there were some things that he wouldn't do. That was mainly because he was in a puppet body at that time. There was no way he could do it, even if he had wanted to. The puppet body that he had made for himself just wasn't equipped that way. But even if he could do it, he still refused to. He had morals.

And obviously, this man didn't.

Without another thought, Sasori grabbed the Uchiha's shoulders, tearing him away from Sakura's body. He tossed Sasuke across the room before tearing the kunai from the girl's hands and arms. She had been immobilized like a wild animal. Blood coated her bare skin.

With fury blazing in his eyes, with all the intention of killing him, Sasori stalked to the dark-haired boy. However, there was no fear in that boy's face or in his body. His eyes stared unseeingly forwards as he lay there, his chest heaving with effort. He looked up, knowing Sasori was standing there. He wanted to die.

"Yamete, Sasori," Sakura said, her voice soft from her side of the bloody room. She would have healed herself if she could, but she couldn't stop the bleeding. The kunai had stabbed all the way through her palms, and through her muscles. It was too painful to lift her hands. "He's not himself." Her words were bitter, even as she said them. At that moment, even Sasori couldn't determine her emotions.

It was going to be a long time before she could look at Sasuke the same way again.

'_Chikusho!'_ Sasori threw the kunai to the ground, embedding it in the floor at the Uchiha's side. He looked just like Itachi. Sasori wouldn't have minded killing him at that moment.

But Sakura needed help. He couldn't even spare one moment to kill this wretch. There was time later.

"I'm not doing this because you said it." The redhead tried very hard not to look at the girl. It was difficult knowing what had happened. "If we stay any longer, I'm going to kill him." He could already feel his hands reaching for his summoning scrolls. He knew just the right puppet with which to slice this boy's throat.

But it could wait. He wrapped his sandy cloak around Sakura and took her away as quickly as possible. He knew she wouldn't admit it, even if she knew that he knew, but she really wanted to leave that place. At that moment, she really wanted to leave.

**End Chapter 5**

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Fire's English tidbits for those who care:

Those of you who went to my profile page and looked at the glossary have probably wondered what an interjection is. For those of you who didn't want to go to a dictionary, here's an explanation. The simple explanation is that it's a word or two words, grammatically independent of the rest of its sentence, used to attract attention or express emotion. So, they're words like: hey, hello, oh, ow, ha, bye, well, etc. I hope that was a comprehensible explanation.

Fire's babbling:

Fire: Another short tidbit. Yay!

Sasuke: Yes, that's another interjection.

Kisame: Yes is also an interjection.

Fire: Kisame, you forgot to use one.

Kisame: How about no?

Fire: That's not how you use interjections.

Kisame: I don't care!

Sasori: What! How dare Sakura stop me! I should have killed him!

Sasuke: (shunshins away) …

Fire: Turbulence galore. I know I'm mean to my characters and I know people are going to ask why so I'm going to tell you again. I like torturing them.

Sakura: That's not a nice thing to say.

Fire: But there's no storyline if you're all just happy and doing nothing. Besides, Sasuke was thinking of Naruto the whole time.

Naruto: (shocked) Nani?

Kisame: Don't act so shocked. You know he was.

Fire: And if you were wondering, if Sasori didn't come, Sasuke really would have killed her. He was really insane at the time.

Kisame: Enough comments?

Fire: More? Let's see… (trying to think of a comment) No. That's it. Send in your reviews and tell me what you think.

Deidara: (running up with an armful of dango) I didn't miss anything, yeah?

Kisame: (grabs a stick) Nope. Nothing at all.

Fire: You missed everything.

Deidara: (mumbling to self) I knew I shouldn't have agreed to get snacks.

Sasori: (eating dango) That just means you're stupid. You're supposed to be a genius too.

Deidara: You ordered me, Sasori-sama!

Fire: Well, that's all for today. Remember to send your reviews! I need reviews to keep me sane!

Kisame: Yeah, and Fire really means it.

Fire: Ja! (waves) Remember to come back for the next chapter!

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	7. Six: Resurgance of Friendship

Sasuke: (stares at the ground) …

Fire: (stares at the ground) What are you looking at, Sasuke?

Sasuke: Just watch.

Kisame: (stares at the ground) Who's on your list today?

Sasuke: Some guy named Zetsu. (Big Bag of Review slowly grows out of the ground) I don't think we should hire him.

Fire: Suspicious.

Kisame: Does Zetsu even have a surname?

Fire: (annoyed) If he wants the job, he should come to the interview!

Kisame: (hands Kisame doll to Fire) …

Fire: Yay!

Kisame: And Fire doesn't hug me anymore. (sigh of relief)

Fire: I'll call you Same-chan!

Kisame: O.O (rips doll in half)

Fire: No! Same-chan!

Kisame: It was a stupid name.

Fire: Um…yes. I know what I did to Sakura in the last chapter was horrible, but I have a reason! I promise!

Sasori: (angry) Sasuke! (runs after him with Orochimaru puppet)

Sasuke: O.O (runs away)

Fire: Anyway, it was completely unintentional. Sasuke wasn't lucid, sane or seeing properly. In fact, he thought it was Naruto!

Naruto: You're acting as if it was a good thing. I'm so glad I'm dead.

Fire: Waah! But he was so happy that he could touch you!

Naruto: Save the explanation for the story. Everyone will understand better.

Fire: But just in case…

Kisame: (hands review window to Fire) Just answer the reviews.

Fire: Before I do that, it's Golden Week! This year, it's April 29 to May 7. (throws Samurai dolls to everyone) If you don't get the reference, the Samurai dolls are displayed during the Children's Festival—which is also the Boys' Festival (Tango no Sekku)—during Golden Week. They're displayed with these carp streamers! (hangs up carp streamers around the window)

Sasuke: Stop it! They can't read!

Fire: The Boys' Festival is on May 5 this year. Anyway, since a lot of you don't live in Japan, and it's a Japanese national holiday, I thought I'd upload the next chapters. It's too cruel to upload one day late for the holiday last week and not upload at all this week! But… (sighs) …I know this chapter is late. (hugs Kisame) But there are bugs in the document manager again and I can't upload my files! (serious) I posted a message on my user profile, but I don't know if anyone saw it yesterday when the next chapter wasn't posted. Next time there's a glitch in my uploading schedule, go to my user profile. There will be a message at the top in bold!

Kisame: You're off topic.

Fire: Yes! Reviews! Deidara will appear soon!

Deidara: Thanks for caring.

Sasori: No one cares about you!

Fire: General statements about the reviews, let's see. (scrolls throw review window) Right now, yes, Sasori _is_ the least insane person in the fic. I know that sounds weird, but it's true. Thanks for pointing that out, EasilyAmusedReader-san. But the fighting is going to come up later in the fic since there are a few things holding Sasori back, and I needed to add this chapter to explain a few things. It's something put together in two days, so tell me how it is. I needed prospective on what everyone's feeling at this point in the story. It's important for the rest of the story.

Sasuke: Everything's important.

Kisame: Fire's really good at tying everything together. Believe me. Even the smallest sentence has significance later in the story.

Fire: Don't say that! It's not true! Some of it is pure drabble!

Kisame: For the character. In the big picture, it's some important thing or other. I really don't care. (pulls out Samehada) I need to kill something!

Sasuke: Kill that. (points at Itachi)

Kisame: I'm not suicidal.

Fire: And last week was Easter, so for the people who had to spend all day in church, that was for you to lounge around. Some of my friends can't find time to get online during that time since it's for family time, or something along that line, so I thought I'd take the stress off of having to go online as soon as possible to read this fic. Please don't kill me for it. I'm not Christian either!

Kisame: Yeah. You worship some weird religion, right?

Sasuke: It'd better not be me. I have enough problems.

Sakura: I'm a part of the Church of Sasuke!

Sasuke: Like I said, I have enough problems. (looks at Naruto, grabs him by the collar and shouts) Worship me!

Naruto: No! You worship me!

Sasuke: …

Fire: Actually, I'm Buddhist-Taoist so I make considerations for the other religions a lot since our traditions don't really interrupt our lives. We sort of just live it. In other words, our holidays aren't national holidays where I live, except for Chinese New Year. — —;; But sorry for the dark chapter. I have this thing with blood.

Kisame: Fire likes blood. That's what we're together all the time.

Fire: Kisame promised to take me hunting!

Kisame: We're hunting for humans. AND I NEVER SAID THAT!

Fire: Anyway, if the blood-work creeps you out, gomen nasai. I wrote what I pictured in my mind. It was detailed, but I can't write sex scenes properly so it's not that good. I might revise it later when I get better at them. But my term is that "Sasuke attacked Sakura." This is because there are going to be a few conflicts revolving around it along with a lot of doubt, so get ready for the whirlpool of twists and turns in this plotline. I said this is a soapopera, and I mean it!

Sasuke: Now read the new chapter. (pulls Chapter 6 onto the screen)

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'_Deep in his eyes, I saw a strange longing._

_They were not eyes full of love,_

_but of evil intent._

_It was pure and utter…hatred._

_Those eyes that once looked into mine so gently,_

_all I could see was evil._

_And all that was in my own eyes was: fear.'_

_--someluppythingbeingweird—I think this is one of the staff members of in2k2, but I'm not sure. I got this from volume 2 chapter 1 of Demon Sacred—which is scanlated by them—and I thought the quote really fit into this arc of the book. Think of it as Sakura's POV when thinking about Sasuke._

---

**Chapter 6: Resurgence of Friendship**

'_**N**aze? Why? Why did he have to take you away? This pain...you don't deserve this pain! If only you could love me... If only your heart could change... Wouldn't we be so much happier? But the gaze of those bright eyes falls only on another, dropping stone to shield my emotions from your benevolent halo. Please, don't feel for me. Please, just be happy. If one hand of kindness should fall from your touch, I would have no choice but to become stone.'_

**S**asori ran frantically into the hospital with Sakura in his arms, even though the girl didn't look like she needed medical attention...except for the shredded clothes and the dried blood caking her body, and her arms hanging limp at her sides. If she could lift her arms, she would have already healed the larger wounds, instead of leaving a red trail behind them. It was enough to make Sasori run.

"N-nan des-ka!" The nurse ran to them. Her eyes fixed themselves immediately on the girl, unable to look at Sasori. Within her mind, she suspected the Suna-nin of doing it. The criminal was the logical suspect. "What happened to Sakura-sensei?"

But Sasori didn't say anything. The woman wouldn't believe him anyway. No one would believe that a man like him–especially when it came to gory situations like this–didn't do it. He only slid Sakura into the arms of the medic-nin crowding around him and turned away. He was too angry to say anything. If he had answered that woman, he would only remind himself what had happened.

Sakura would tell them anyway.

'_Hate him, chikusho!'_ Where was that hatred he knew the girl was capable of? Where was the killer intent? Why didn't she want to kill him? If she wanted Sasuke to die, Sasori could at least say that she made him kill the Uchiha later.

But there was nothing. As he scoured Sakura's heart for a hint of hatred, he found nothing but disgust and fear. And even though he _could _kill Sasuke now, Konoha's ANBU would only come chasing after him later.

It really was irritating.

But the idea of not being able to kill Sasuke now wasn't what irritated him. _'I don't have my puppets equipped properly yet anyway.'_ What really annoyed him were the emotions in his chest.

When he was still alive, he never felt emotions like these before. He had _heard _about them, but he had never _felt _them. He wanted to rip them out with kunai. He never thought they could be so annoying!

'_This is what they call compassion.'_

He wanted to tear compassion out. If it wasn't for compassion, he would have killed Sasuke by now. He wouldn't have carried Sakura out of that blood soaked house and left his prey to live. The old Sasori wouldn't have done that. The old Sasori would have left her to die. Then they couldn't say he killed her to make her into a puppet. Then he would have an excuse to preserve her beauty forever.

'_And this is what they call empathy.'_

But that was forced on him! It had to be! He refused to believe that he would care about an inferior kunoichi like Sakura. He refused to believe that he would stop just because she told him to stop. It was because she still had control over him. He was too close to her at the time. He couldn't stop himself. That was it. That was it! That was what he _had _to believe.

**F**ear struck Sakura as soon as she woke. Where was she? This wasn't her bed. This wasn't her ceiling. The scent of this air didn't belong in her house! But she slowly calmed as memory flooded her mind. She had passed out in Sasori's arms and had woken in the hospital not long after they healed her wounds. It wasn't as serious as Shikamaru's injury, the kunai barely tearing through the thicker muscles or the tendons. However, it was still going to be at least two days before she left this sickroom. By then, someone would have gone to help Sasuke. Someone from the Keimu Butai had already come for her statement and hopefully, had sent word to the Hokage about it.

Slowly, she sank into her lonely surroundings, her mind submerging in the calm room, pushing the faraway pain from her memory. Sasuke... Sasuke was one of the farthest people from her mind for the first time in ten years. Her mind was left on herself.

Her heart wasn't right. There was something wrong with herself. When she was still in that house, she could have stopped him. Her arms held more strength than he did. Before that kunai severed all movement, she could have escaped. But that soft emotion shining in Sasuke's eyes when he kissed her stopped her. She had thought that he had finally accepted her into his life.

Then, he whispered Naruto's name.

He was delusional. As soon as he touched her, a crazed light filled his expression. What was it that brought this insanity over him? She didn't have to wonder. She already knew. As with everything else, only Naruto could do this to him.

And again, Sakura's heart filled with jealousy. That was what was wrong with her. Even though she knew she should hate him for what he did. _'Hate him!'_ She could even hear Sasori's irritation rumbling. _'Hate him!'_ But she couldn't do it. She couldn't do it!

Because if Sasuke had only asked, she wouldn't even have this reason to hate him.

**S**asuke stared at the wet wall, the fresh scent of blood that didn't belong to him still hanging in the air. He hadn't moved since Sasori came to kill him, and the Suna-nin would have done it if Sakura hadn't stopped him. And it _was_ Sakura. It wasn't Naruto. He should have known that it was too easy. If it was Naruto, he would have vanished as soon as he touched him. If it was really Naruto, he wouldn't have been able to...

The Uchiha pulled himself up, his head pounding with insanity. Naruto. Thoughts of Naruto still raged. He still wanted to touch him, to hold him, to see him, and to hear him again. He had thought he could finally do it. He thought Naruto had finally come back to him. As soon as he looked up from his bleeding hands into that face, he had seen Naruto looking down at him. He hadn't even known that Sakura was there. He hadn't even known that she was there until Sasori threw him across the room.

'_No! Naruto!'_ He refused to believe that he had mistaken Naruto for someone else. He couldn't mistake his dobe for someone else. His dobe was unmistakable! _'Where did you go!'_ He had come back to him. That was the only explanation. He had come back. He was sitting right here with him, comforting him, telling him that everything was okay, until Sakura and Sasori chased him away. That was what they did. That _had_ to be what happened!

The dark-haired shinobi clutched his head, rocking back and forth in his raging thoughts. He refused to believe anything else. It had to be the truth. Naruto would return eventually! He had to return. He had to return...because Sasuke had wanted to live with him, and die with him.

And they couldn't die together if Naruto was dead.

**A**fter a long time, when the police finally came, they found Sasuke mumbling to himself, locked in a world far from their own.

**S**hikamaru walked into the room and sat down. Sakura stared at him. "Is there something you want?" Shikamaru asked, as if he had a right to be in her sickroom. There was no foreseeable reason for him to be there.

"I'm leaving today," Sakura said as she continued packing. There weren't many things to pack, but it was still taking awhile with her bandaged arms throbbing. "Why are you here?"

"I asked you first," Shikamaru said slowly. Something was wrong with Sakura. He saw it distinctly. All the nurses were talking about it, but she wasn't reacting the way she should. When something like _that _happened, shouldn't she be more...more unsettled, or bitter, or receding from the world? There had to be _some _negative emotion, but Sakura seemed unaffected. It was bothering him. It bothered him when he heard she was leaving so soon. She couldn't be ready to leave the hospital yet! "Are you going to kill him?"

"Who?" Sakura's voice was light as she looked at the vase filled with daffodils from Lee. She didn't know how to pack it. Instead, she took her clothes from the closet at the far end of the room and laid them on the bed. "I don't want to kill anyone."

Shikamaru stared at Sakura. That didn't compute. That didn't add up. That didn't make sense! What was wrong with this girl's head! "Sakura! Sasuke–"

"Leave! Now!" Sakura's eyes glared with malice, her body engulfed with the cursed seal's purple chakra. "I don't want to kill anyone!" The chakra lashed at Shikamaru, whipping through him. "Nothing happened!" She threw Shikamaru into the hall, smashing him against the opposite wall. "Don't talk to me again," she said as the nurses ran to Shikamaru. Then the killer intent faded as she closed the wardroom door.

Sakura leaned against the door, her head pounding against Shikamaru's intrusion on her shaky peace. The feeling of wood beneath her body was comforting for a moment before her mind flashed through another horrible memory. Pain spreading from where her back met wood, pain spreading throughout her body, blood leaking from her hands and arms. Sakura jumped from the door as panic flew through her limbs, her hands wrapping quickly around herself, the fresh wounds throbbing for attention. The bandages holding the newly closed gashes were already reddening through.

She had worked hard to calm herself, to forget, and she had almost succeeded. Originally, she was very jumpy, shrieking at every nurse that walked into her room, although she could easily have killed them with one hand, but she had expected that. This nervousness was natural. It was natural to think that he was waiting for her around the corner, even though he had never come to visit, either because he didn't want to do it, or he couldn't do it, or perhaps he didn't know what he had done. It was all possible.

Sasuke never came. No one had seen him for a long time. He was almost completely a ghost, haunting the streets, and the dreams of the girls of Konoha.

But as soon as the panic died down, she realized it. She realized something that alarmed her, that frightened her. _'Why?'_ She didn't understand it. _'Why don't I hate him!'_ Wasn't it natural? She should hate him. She shouldn't want him to come visit her! But she did, and she was disappointed that he didn't come. She kept expecting to see him walk into the wardroom, and now that she was leaving, the chances had passed.

No. She didn't hate him. She could never hate him, no matter what he did. Now that her mind had cleared, she saw it clearly. She kept wanting to be with Sasuke so much, even though she could never really do it. She knew that she could never make him happy. And to think that she had actually made him happy in that one moment of illusion, she could only hate herself for not truly being Naruto, for not having the ability to hold that moment of happiness for him.

Sakura looked slowly around the room, her thoughts numbing as she scanned the bare surfaces. As she pulled her pyjamas from her body and zipped the nurse's uniform on, she looked at the daffodils again. She didn't even remember Lee visiting her. _'Nani?'_ Her eyes fell on the small rectangular stack of paper beneath the vase. She hadn't even noticed it. She hadn't thought about it at all, even though she had probably been carrying it around with her since...since she was last hospitalized. But it was staring at her. That flimsy notebook that Sasori had given to her.

She should ask him about it. She _should have _asked him about it. She knew that she should have asked as she walked closer, her eyes fixed unmovably from the little book. Her hands ran over the soft cover for a moment before she flipped to the first page. Then she closed the book quickly. She hadn't thought it was possible. What she held in her hand wasn't possible. It couldn't exist. She had thought about it, had wished she could do it constantly, even before she went to the Uchiha estate, but had thought it was absurd. She couldn't do something like that. She wasn't capable of it.

But here it was.

She had to remember to yell at Sasori later.

**I**t was his fault. Kakashi knew that it was his fault as soon as he heard the rumour. Sakura was... _'No! It can't happen!'_ He refused to believe it. Something like that couldn't happen. The thought of her mind becoming unstable again wasn't possible. Just because he had left so suddenly at the dango shop, she couldn't possibly have another mental breakdown! She couldn't blame him. He wasn't himself!

The grey-haired jounin's legs carried him through the streets of Konoha toward the hospital. He had heard the rumours that she was there. She was there, again. She was there! "Sakura!" He hadn't expected to see her walking out of the hospital.

"Kakashi-sensei?" She stared at him as she walked forwards, one hand holding a small bundle of daffodils, her other hand holding a bag containing her pyjamas. "What are you doing here?" Her expression held no difference from all her expressions before.

And Kakashi couldn't bring himself to ask her about the rumour. "I–" his voice cracked nervously. "I heard you were in the hospital again." Hopefully, she would tell him without his asking. Hopefully, she wouldn't tell him what he feared, that her mind was unstable again.

"Thank you for your concern, Kakashi-sensei," she said pleasantly, almost as if she wasn't herself. "I just hurt myself. That's all." She wasn't going to tell him anything. She wasn't going to tell _anyone _anything.

'_And if you tell anyone, I'm going to kill you, Sasori!'_ She knew that the Suna-nin heard her. Even if he tried to break their link, even if he didn't obey her, he would still hear her thoughts and desires.

"But if you're here to ask me to return, the answer's still no." She stopped him before he could say anything.

Kakashi stared at the girl, his hand reaching slowly forwards for the bag. "I'll just walk you to your house," he said defeatedly. He couldn't think of any other excuse.

Sakura watched the bag leave her hand. "O-kay," she said reluctantly. She remembered wanting to go back to the way it was long ago. Even if he wasn't her sensei anymore, she could still spend time with him. That was okay, wasn't it? There was nothing wrong with it. Even though that dream belonged to a time, which seemed so long ago, she could still live in it and pretend nothing had happened between her and Sasuke. "But if you see Sasori, you have to yell at him for me." She still hadn't forgotten the book rolled up in her kunai pouch. Now that she had seen it, she wasn't going to be able to forget it.

**End Chapter 6**

---------------------------

Fire's English tidbits for those who care:

Here's one you may find interesting. Double possessives. I know you're probably staring at the screen and wondering what that is. I talked about double negatives before, and here I am, talking about double possessives. What in the world is that! Here's a brief explanation. A double possessive is created when both an 'of' phrase and an 's are used in the same sentence. For example, "Umeboshi is a favourite food of Sakura's," is a double possessive. The sentence can be rewritten as "Sakura's favourite food is umeboshi," but the meaning would change. The first example indicates that umeboshi is one of many foods that Sakura enjoys, and it may even create the anticipation that another food will be mentioned. However, the second example indicates that umeboshi is either the only food Sakura really enjoys, or that it is the only one that will be mentioned. There is no expectation of another food to be mentioned later. If you're wondering if you can use the double possessive or not, here's a tip. The first example can be rewritten with the phrase "one of" while the second example can't be rewritten. So, "Umeboshi is a favourite food of Sakura's," can be rewritten as "Umeboshi is one of Sakura's favourite foods." And that's it! Unlike double negatives, double possessives are a correct part of English grammar. Your spell check shouldn't say it's wrong. If you have any other questions, ask me. I want to stop now before this tidbit fills up even more space.

Fire's babbling:

Kisame: (stares at Sakura) …

Sakura: (annoyed) Nani?

Sasori: Why do you still care about him! There's something wrong with your brain! (shaking Sakura by the shoulders)

Fire: And this is what they call love.

Sasori: I don't _love_ her!

Fire: I wanted to put that in, but there was no logical way to do it.

Kisame: (still staring at Sakura) …

Sakura: (still annoyed) Nani!

Kisame: I can't stare at Kakashi for being a pedophile.

Sakura: Kakashi-sensei's not a pedophile!

Sasori: Where's that bastard, Sasuke?

Fire: Sulking.

Kisame: He's really twisted. He wants to _die _with Naruto? That's very insane.

Fire: But it's—

Kisame: If you say romantic, I'm going to send you to the hospital again.

Sakura: Kyaa! I want to die with Sasuke-kun!

Sasori: That's stupid. No one wants to die with that ugly—

Sakura: Sasuke-kun's not ugly!

Fire: Anyway, I think I've explained what happened last chapter properly. If you're still confused about why Sasuke did it, send me a PM or review.

Sakura: I could have died with him!

Kisame: He really was going to kill you.

Sakura: I want to die with Sasuke-kun!

Sasori: You're insane too.

Sakura: If he dies first, I will be the last person he sees! (happy) Kyaa!

Fire: That's what happened in the first book, but that was Naruto.

Naruto: (nodding in agreement) Yes. And he wasn't happy at all. AND I'M NEVER GOING TO FORGIVE HIM FOR WHAT HE DID TO SAKURA-CHAN! (angry flames erupting in his eyes)

Fire: Anyway, I wanted to establish everyone's emotional state. It really summarizes how much Sakura really loves Sasuke. Please don't kill me for this, but feel free to flame. I know it's annoying. I wanted to make her hate him too, so that she can like someone else more easily, but it's really hard to kill an emotion that has been around for ten years. Remember that she has loved him since she was five years old! Since she's fifteen now, it has been ten years. Coming from someone with the same problem, I know how she feels.

Kisame: You have the same problem?

Fire: Okay, it has almost been ten years. It'll be ten years in a few months.

Kisame: Why don't I know about this?

Fire: It's not you, Kisame.

Kisame: Nani! I'm going to kill him. Who is he!

Fire: (ignoring Kisame) Anyway, review and tell me what you thought. Feel free to rant about Sakura. I'll do my best to keep her out of the replies. So review! Review! Review! Review!

Kisame: Are you broken again?

Fire: People don't break.

Kisame: NOW TELL ME WHO IT IS!

Fire: No. (waving to the audience) Ja!

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	8. Seven: A Resolution and a Heartache

Fire: Congratulations on coming this far in the story! (throws ads to the audience)

Sasuke: (annoyed) Why are you doing that again!

Fire: The sponsors paid for those ads, so I thought—

Kisame: I thought this was non-profit.

Fire: (hugs Kisame) It is! But they threatened me! I need a bodyguard!

Kisame: I don't want to guard you.

Fire: …

Naruto: (reads a window) Brought to you by the Kyuubi—warning: may cause side effects. Hey! What side effects?

Sasuke: It makes you stupid.

Kisame: You want me to protect you from the Kyuubi!

Fire: Next interview!

Sasuke: (pulls out a big stack of resumes) Kaoru. (reads resume again, looks at the back, looks at the resume again) There's no surname.

Fire: Kaoru-san! (excited) What are you doing here?

Kaoru: The hospital's not very busy so I thought I'd try this.

Kisame: The bag's heav—

Kaoru: Waah! A nukenin! (throws the Big Bag of Reviews at Kisame and runs away)

Fire: Another failed interview. (hits Kisame) It's your fault!

Kisame: I didn't want a nurse here anyway.

Sasori: But look at the uniform! (pulls Sakura up in a nurse's uniform) Sakura in a nurse's uniform…

Sakura: Stop being a hentai!

Sasori: Better than wearing this. (holds up the medic-nin uniform)

Sakura: (sweats) They're bulky.

Fire: Before I say anything about the reviews, I want to add some information about the fic. The first-person POV thoughts at the beginning of each chapter summarize the emotions in each chapter. If you haven't been reading them, it's okay, but I would rather that you did. And about the thoughts at the beginning of this chapter, if you didn't know, Medusa wasn't an evil gorgon to begin with. She was one of the most beautiful girls in Greece, but Aphrodite turned her into a gorgon since she was too beautiful. That was how she lost the man she loved. He couldn't love a gorgon and ran away with another girl! Waah! It's so sad! Especially when Thesius came to chop off her head later just because she was turning people into stone!

Kisame: Great. Now Fire's wailing over a gorgon.

Fire: (suddenly composed) Now, reviews!

Kisame: …

Fire: Kisame, you have the bag!

Kisame: (hands the review window to Fire) …

Fire: Um…Kakashi's on vacation. That's why we're trying to find a substitute.

Sasuke: That's not what Rikki-san meant!

Fire: The Kakashi in the story? That will be in this chapter. I know it took long, but I don't write in a linear timeline. That's what flashbacks are for. I reveal the information when the time is right!

Kisame: That sounds suspicious.

Sasuke: (nodding) Very suspicious.

Fire: – – ;; Anyway, yay! A vote for Kakashi. If he was here, he'd be so happy!

Sasori: Nani? Are you sure that's not for me? It says Sasori, see?

Fire: It says Kakashi. And that's a good sign because I'm going to be developing the Kakashi relationship in this chapter.

Sakura: He's too old for me too! Find someone younger! Someone closer to my age! Someone like Sasuke-kun!

Sasuke: I love Naruto!

Naruto: Why doesn't anyone care that I'm still dead?

Fire: Your current state is important to the later storyline. You'll all see later. I'm not just being mean for nothing. As for Shikamaru, he's not in this chapter, but he'll definitely be reappearing later. Now slave!

Tobi: …?

Fire: Pull up the next chapter!

Tobi: (carries chapter 7 onto the screen) …

---------------------------

**Chapter 7: A Resolution and a Heartache**

'_**I** saw Medusa and she pitied me, because she is a woman who has also lost the one she loves. She refused to encase my body in stone, but my heart's eyes had already fallen on her face, and it had instantly frozen in granite. Although it will never break again, it will never again melt at your voice, or your touch. But even though my heart is immovable stone, please heal these cracks that formed long ago when it was still in your grasp. Please, melt the heart you smashed to the ground and fuse it whole again.'_

**T**sunade did the only thing she could do. As she stared at the Uchiha sitting at the other side of her desk, she smacked him in the head as hard as her unaugmented strength could, and hoped it was enough to bring him out of his trance. But it didn't work. He was just staring. Staring endlessly at nothing. When the Keimu Butai went to his house, they had found him like this. His mind had regressed completely from reality. He was a puppet again. But this time, Sakura wasn't his master. This time, there was no master.

'_What should I do with him?'_ Tsunade frowned at the boy. There was nothing physically wrong, and there was nothing she could do for his mental problems. It wasn't as if his mind was damaged by Itachi's Tsukiyomi. _'I can't just let him go.'_ The blond woman smacked the boy across the face, but there was no reaction. He just sat, a lump of flesh. Any other normal person would have reacted to this unreasonable abuse, but according to Sakura's testimony and the medical examination Tsunade had personally performed, Sasuke wasn't normal.

She contemplated sending him to Kakashi. The jounin sensei wouldn't mind keeping an eye on his student for a while. It had been a long time since they were together again, and it didn't seem as if Sasuke was going to be a problem in his current condition, but she thought twice about the decision and realized what would probably happen. Kakashi would probably become infected by the Uchiha's mind, or worse. Kakashi could kill him.

Tsunade sighed as she looked at Raidou standing at the other side of the room. "Bring me the directory, Raidou," she said as her mind failed to remember anyone of use. She needed someone close to Sasuke, close enough to know what to expect, but not close enough to become affected by his depressed mind. She needed someone who was in the village, who could take him immediately out of her office. Someone who wasn't in the hospital.

"Yes, Hokage-sama!" Raidou ran up with the huge binder in his hands. The names, ranks, personal information, and public information of every shinobi in the village were in that binder. _'Just don't choose me,'_ he thought desperately. The Uchiha scared him, a jounin! Jiraiya would be a better candidate.

"Arigatou, Raidou," Tsunade said as she flipped to the first page. And she saw the answer after a few moments. The name was staring straight at her, and she looked up to send one of her assistants for the shinobi when she realized that the seat at the other side of her desk was empty. The Uchiha was gone. Sasuke was gone! "Kuso!" She should have known that he wouldn't stay still. In his current state of mind, he was unstable. "Raidou, send for Shizune!" The blond woman yelled the order even though that wasn't whom she had wanted to call. But this was urgent. She needed to find Sasuke. Now!

**L**ee was somewhat frantic. In the competition between him and the rest of the general population of fanboys after Sakura, he was losing. Even Kakashi had a higher chance of being with Sakura than he did. And he couldn't figure out why! After she returned from Oto no Sato, and finally came out of the hospital, he thought that she would return to being a shinobi. He thought he would see her more often. But that didn't happen. He hardly saw her at all. Her life as a shinobi had come to an unexplained end. She had decided long ago to stop being a kunoichi, but he hadn't thought that she would decide to continue that decision.

It wasn't fair. It was unfair to him. He had waited so long for her return, and now that she was back, he couldn't even talk to her. What could he say to someone who was perfect?

So, he had occupied his time with training. He focussed on it even more than before. Two thousand punches became four thousand, and three hundred laps become six hundred. He doubled his activity until he was too exhausted to think of her, until he was too exhausted to see what was happening in the village.

Kakashi-sensei had swept in as soon as she left the hospital, before Lee could get there. And he had chosen to ignore it, even though it had happened right in front of him. Everyone could see what was happening, except for Lee. He was too busy distracting himself. When his eyes caught on that moment, the moment when Sakura handed her bag to Kakashi, he had ordered himself to run more laps, do more kicks, punch more logs until the trees around him fell as toothpicks.

'_Sakura-san!'_ He couldn't spend a day without thinking of her. _'Sakura-san!'_ But he refused to see her. It only strained his heart to see her tortured face. The demons of Otogakure were relentless. Those ghosts floated constantly around her. _'Even when she's sitting there like that, I can still see th–'_

"Sakura-san!"

Sakura looked up at the sound of her name, her eyes falling on the green-clad chuunin before she smiled, her face brightening at the familiar face. She hadn't seen Lee in awhile. "Lee-san, what are you doing out here this late in the day?" Even though she thought he might be training, it was impossible that he would still be training at this hour.

"Training." He wanted to say something else, but he couldn't think of anything. After relentlessly thinking of her, she was sitting right in front of him. He couldn't lie to her. "I was training," he stuttered embarrassedly. He wanted to get away. His body threatened to run, even though he knew that he wanted to stay. "Sakura-san, I–"

"Sit with me for a while, Lee-san." Sakura's voice was distant as she spoke, her eyes staring at the dark trees marking the border between the friendly paths of the village and the shinobi training grounds. "I wouldn't mind some company before Kakashi-sensei comes."

Lee's lighthearted expression fell at the words. _'Kakashi-sensei... Of course.'_ Lee tried to ignore it, but his mind still knew. It still absorbed the information bombarding his peripheral vision, bombarding the mind that wanted to know, even though he knew it would hurt him. Kakashi and Sakura. Kakashi had just walked her home the day before. They had gone to the dango shop again. He was waiting for her outside the hospital again. And they were spending time like this together, even though initially, he hadn't known about it. He was meeting her again. They had certainly become close lately.

"Yes, of course," Lee said, his enthusiasm and energy completely suppressed by the girl's placid manner, by the poison tipped words that pierced his spirit. He didn't know what to say, or how to act. She was hiding her pain beneath that calm face, and he could feel it emanating from her as clearly as heat from her body. That faraway voice hid deep pain from the sun.

"Did you hear, Lee-san?" Sakura's voice sounded even more far away than it did a moment ago. "Sasuke-kun is missing again." The last time, he was just hiding at his house. _'Did he just go home?'_ She wondered, even though it was probably too simple for someone so...so Sasuke.

Lee stared down at the ground, not sure what he should say. "Yes." It was always Sasuke. To Sakura, the only thing that mattered in this world was Sasuke. Sasuke was everything. And against that, Lee was nothing. Even all the hard work in the universe couldn't change him, couldn't make him Sasuke, couldn't bring him a bit of Sasuke's godliness. It was something Neji had called Fate. It was unchangeable. Sakura loved Sasuke, and she would love Sasuke forever.

"An ANBU came with a message from Tsunade-shishou," Sakura continued, as if Lee hadn't said anything to interrupt her. "He escaped from her office while she was deciding what to do with him." Sakura smiled a smile from a world where she sat alone, where Lee wasn't really sitting there with her. In her eyes, someone else sat there, and Lee couldn't see who it was. "It's just like Sasuke to do something like that." Only he could get away with something so daring.

The chuunin at Sakura's side didn't know what to say. His mouth dried at the memory. Someone had told him about what had happened to Sakura, but he had thought it was only a rumour, a bad rumour made to mock Sakura, or Sasuke, or him. But it was true. Sakura and Sasuke had... "I'll kill him!"

"Nani?" Sakura drew Lee's attention immediately. She thought she had heard him say...something unlike him.

"Nothing," Lee said with an innocent smile, the momentary darkness that had spilled from his soul vanishing under the girl's gaze. "I was just wondering what that book is." He gestured to the book in Sakura's hand. He remembered Sakura holding this book in the hospital. She had refused to let go of it then, and she was holding it with the same urgency now. He couldn't help wondering what could be so important. "Is it full of medical secrets?"

'_Medical secrets?'_ Sakura laughed at the comment, an acrid laugh that weighed heavily in the air. Medical secrets... "Something like that," she said, her voice suddenly far away again. It was good to be lighthearted again. She had forgotten that she could feel this way. "I want to make Sasuke happy with this."

Lee stared at the girl. Those words... She was serious. Her face filled with the light of sincerity. Whatever was in that book really could make Uchiha Sasuke–the heartless, emotionless, most negative man in Konoha–happy. "It's not possible."

Sakura stared across the empty dirt path for a moment before refuting his statement. "Yes, it is." Final.

Lee turned away from the girl and the notebook in her hand. If he allowed himself to watch her any longer, he would grab the notebook away, and throw it into the rivers, because if it could do something like that–if it could make someone like Uchiha Sasuke happy–it must be dangerous. "You shouldn't do it, Sakura-san," Lee shouted, the need to convince Sakura, filling his body. He couldn't take the book away. He refused to take anything important from Sakura, but he could still convince her. He could make her understand that she shouldn't do it. But he couldn't even imagine where to begin explaining what he felt. "It's not worth putting yourself in danger for a man like that!"

Sakura didn't turn to face Lee, didn't yell or move. She only smiled to herself at those words. "Thank you, Lee-san." She closed her eyes slowly before turning to look at Lee. "But I can't help it." She was always stubborn, as stubborn as Sasuke or Naruto. After so many years of loving him, it was too difficult to change. "I still want to make him happy." And this was the only way she could do it. She knew that she could never truly make him happy, not without something like this.

"Your dreams are..." Lee wasn't sure how to say it. Her dreams were ridiculous. Dreams like those were wasted on someone like Sasuke, on someone who would never appreciate them.

"Sakura," Kakashi said as he stopped by the bench. She hadn't even seen him walking up. "Are you going to spend time with Lee-kun?" He didn't want to leave Sakura with Lee, but if she wanted to spend time with him, he couldn't do anything about it.

"No. I'm finished," Sakura said bluntly as she rose from her seat. She looked at Lee once more before turning away. "Ja, Lee-san."

"Ja ne." Lee's eyes widened to their full roundness as he stared at her graceful form, rising from the bench and drifting to Kakashi's side. _'I don't have the right to monopolize someone like that.'_ Not when he knew that she preferred to be at Kakashi's side.

_**T**he routine would have tired anyone else by then, but Kakashi couldn't stop. He found himself standing in front of Obito's name again. As soon as his thoughts fell on Rin, his body brought him here. This place was inevitable. This was the place where Obito's memory lasted forever, where time ceased to exist. Here, there was a possibility that Obito would yell at him for what he had done, complain that he was a stuck-up idiot and laugh when he tried to deny it. Here, he could forget the slip of the mind that had occurred in the dango shop on a few moments before._

_The flowers drooped at the base of the stone monolith. Kakashi had brought something different for once. He had wanted to seem like a normal patron at this cenotaph, not the lonely man who stood here every morning from long before dawn, with his empty hands to stare for hours at a name that would never answer. He wanted Obito to answer him this time. 'Is it okay that I failed you?'_

_Those words that flew through his mind as he stood in front of Sakura frightened him. 'Kakashi...take care of Rin.' He couldn't stand up to those words. When he looked at Sakura, all the memories came flooding back._

_He had failed Obito._

"_You must really hate me," he said to the row of characters. Even in the middle of pulling himself together, he couldn't stop himself from saying it. Obito should have survived instead of a useless shinobi like him, instead of a useless man like him, who couldn't even stand in front of Sakura and pull her back to the ninja's path. 'And I couldn't protect Rin.'_

Kakashi sighed at the memory. If Yuugao hadn't walked up and asked him what he was doing at the cenotaph when his student was in the hospital, he would still be standing there. But he had yet to sort out his thoughts. Even as he walked toward the hill, the place where Sakura was waiting, he still couldn't remember what he was thinking in the dango shop when he remembered his promise. He couldn't remember what it meant.

"Sakura," he said as he watched her sitting form. The pink-haired girl was as lost in thought as he was.

That was when he saw Lee. And his chest froze for an unexplainable reason.

'_Wh-what is this?'_ What was that coldness spreading through his body? "Are you going to spend time with Lee-kun?" His voice shook slightly, but no one should have noticed it. _'Say no!'_ He didn't want to leave Sakura here.

"No. I'm finished." Sakura stood, her eyes falling on Lee for a moment... "Ja, Lee-san." ...before walking to Kakashi.

"Ja ne." The lonely reply drifted after them as they walked away. Kakashi glanced at Sakura's frowning figure and wondered if she had heard Lee. He didn't know what had happened, but they didn't part well. Something was missing. The way she clutched that book was too tight. "Sakura, daijoubu? Did something happen?"

"Nothing." Sakura didn't want to talk about it. "Take a walk with me, Kakashi-sensei." _'Lee's words are too disturbing.'_ Somehow, it seemed as if he knew everything she wanted to do. "I want to forget about that for awhile." And she _should _forget it. It was impossible. Lee couldn't know what was in her book. The only one who knew was Sasori, and he certainly wasn't going to tell anyone about it.

Kakashi frowned at the suggestion; his words locked within his mind. She wasn't going to tell him what was wrong. And there was nothing he could do about it.

**H**e knew that the house was probably empty, but Sasuke still called out his usual greeting. "I'm home," and for a moment, he thought he heard an echo through the empty halls. The house never sounded emptier than it did then.

His rushing heart pounded in his ears. His clouded memory couldn't remember what had happened in that room, only that Naruto was waiting for him somewhere inside. He only knew what he felt, a mix of the strangest emotions within his chest: fear, pain, self-hatred, confusion, and many other negative emotions that he just couldn't name.

"Naruto?" He looked around, expecting to see the blond boy walk around the corner and surprise him. But there was no one. The house was obviously empty. "Naruto..." The blond wasn't there. Naruto was never there.

Sasuke walked into the living room and sank down. The wood floors caught him readily as his head hit the ground. His mind just wouldn't let go of what had happened earlier that week, but his memory still refused to tell him the source of all these emotions.

The scent of blood was hanging in the air, filling Sasuke's lungs. Dried blood crumbled against his hands as his fingers curled into fists. His whole body weighted unmovable as he breathed in the red cloud around him. And the pounding in his head grew louder.

It was another moment before he pulled himself from the ground, his feet dragging on the floor as he moved from room to room. Slowly, as his eyes scanned the empty rooms for the blond shinobi he knew wouldn't be there, the windows closed, sealing the dank air of the house from the outside world.

His mind was working slowly, but he could still feel what he was thinking. He knew what he felt.

With shaking hands, he drew the paper doors of his room closed. That was the last one. With that last door, the house was closed, sealed from the world and those eyes. Those unrelenting eyes that pried shame and guilt from his heart.

'_Stop staring at me.'_ He curled into his bed and pulled the blankets over his head, his eyes closed tight against the stares. _'Go away!'_ But they were still there, mocking the unsteady relief he felt at finding the house empty...even though he wasn't really relieved that Naruto wasn't there.

Deep down, he knew what he had done. He knew what had happened in this bloody room, and he could never forgive himself for it...

'_Naruto!'_

...because he knew Naruto would never forgive him. Not only had he hurt the first person Naruto had ever loved, he had allowed himself to feel the most horrible emotion. He had allowed himself to feel happiness, happiness that Naruto wasn't there, happiness that wasn't given to him by Naruto. Anything else would have been fine, but he knew that Naruto would never forgive him for this ultimate betrayal.

**K**akashi had thought Sakura was kidding. She often asked to walk, but they usually only walked to the dango shop. She liked to eat sweet things, although she never looked as if she was enjoying it. He guessed that sweets had ceased to taste good now that Sasuke and Naruto were gone.

And they had already walked pass the dango shop.

"Sakura, please," he said slowly as the original motive for seeing her returned. He couldn't give up just because she said no. Obito would yell at him for not keeping an eye on– _'No! Not Rin!'_ He just wanted Sakura to return to the life she had worked so hard to build.

He fixed his eyes on the road, refusing to turn and look at her. He didn't have to look at her. He already knew the expression on her face, the sad expression that hated to disappoint him. She already knew what he was going to say, and she didn't want to say that answer again. But she was going to say it anyway.

"I want you back again," Kakashi finally said after a short moment.

"Really?" Her voice was casual, as if they were talking about something mundane. He had taken the better part of the last week to ask her this question. He had sat by her bed in the hospital after the incident with Sasuke–as if she wouldn't know he was sitting there just because she was asleep–and tried to gather courage. She knew that it wasn't easy for him. "Is that what you really want?" She knew that it was difficult. A man who had no problems risking his life for someone else, but who couldn't do a simple task for his own happiness...it must be heartbreaking. "Are you sure?" But she knew that it wasn't true. He didn't really want her on his team. "Are you sure you're not thinking of Rin-san?"

Kakashi's breath caught in his throat. The words were so simple, yet they drilled panic into his chest easier than an angry Orochimaru. This thought that had plagued his mind for the last week had finally reached his ears. "You..."

"All medic-nin are recorded in the Hokage tower. I know what she must have been like." Her eyes were cast down, not looking at Kakashi even though his gaze was pulling her toward him. "What do you want, sensei? What do you really need?" Because it wasn't her. As she looked up at him with pain shining in her eyes, she knew that it wasn't her. "I'm not Rin-san!" She was serious. All this time...all those times he had accidentally called her Ri–Sakura, and all those times he had looked at her as if there was something more in his eyes...she knew. She knew what he was thinking. "Don't ask me to join you anymore! I can't replace her!" Sakura turned from him and ran. If she ran fast enough, she might be able to lose him.

"Sakura!" Kakashi rushed forwards, his gloved hand catching the girl's arm, but the girl punched him away, sending him flying down the street. When Kakashi looked up again, she was gone. _'Sakura...'_ He still didn't know what he was thinking, but she was right. She wasn't Rin, and he shouldn't be confusing her with Rin.

**End Chapter 7**

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Fire's English tidbits for those who care:

Amount and number. Arrgh! I learnt this in high school, but I keep finding fics that confuse the two. Amount refers to mass or uncountable nouns, and number refers to countable nouns. So, abstract items like water, chakra or thoughts, are mass _amounts_. Concrete items like kunai, hand seals and trees are large numbers. That was driving me nuts!

Fire's babbling:

Fire: Okay! I've decided!

Sasuke: What?

Tobi: (waves) Hi.

Kisame: What's _he_ doing here?

Fire: It's Kakashi's substitute!

Tobi: Dozu.

Fire: I finally found a resume with an eager applicant!

Sasuke: Kuso. I thought I burned it.

Kisame: Thought! You should have made sure!

Fire: Anyway, not much happened in this chapter, I know! Don't kill me for it! I wanted to set up the setting for the next few scenes, and add in some Lee-time, since I've been ignoring him horribly.

Lee: (sob) Why can't you pair me with Sakura-san?

Fire: You're too nice. Kakashi will definitely steal her away.

Sasori: (holding up an awl) I'm making puppets!

Deidara: What happened with us, yeah? Akatsuki is still in the story!

Fire: Yes, I'm bringing Akatsuki back into the storyline in the next few chapters. You won't believe how!

Sasuke: Don't tell them things they don't need to know now.

Kisame: I want to come back! I want to kill Sasuke!

Sasori: And steal Sakura away from me?

Kisame: No!

Fire: KisaSaku? That's for another story.

Sakura: No! Have you seen that horrible face!

Sasuke: Fish face.

Fire: Um…No? Well, this chapter was also supposed to clarify Kakashi's actions in the last few chapters, since he wasn't around, and it's supposed to really establish Sasuke's mental state at this point, and the thoughts that lead him to the thought that can only come out of insanity.

Sasuke: I'm not insane!

Kisame: You have to be insane to think that I'm a fish.

Fire: Anyway, review and tell me if I've clarified what happened to Kakashi since he left the dango shop. The flashback sort of summarizes it all but all those were added to the chapter since I forgot to put it in.

Kisame: Again.

Fire: Waah! Don't say things like that to me! (hugs Kisame)

Sasuke: Another migraine?

Kisame: Too many thoughts at once.

Fire: How does the omniscient ones do it!

Sasuke: Kami-sama tries not to think about everything at once.

Neji: I'm a genius. I can see everything at once without all those headaches.

Fire: Anyway, another sad Lee scene. I have to think of a happier scene to put him in, but he's the tragic character in this one. Sakura's never going to love him.

Lee: (sniff) Sakura-san…

Fire: Come back for the next chapter. Sasori's preparations for the fight are almost finished…

Sasori: (grabs another block of wood) One more puppet!

Fire: …I hope. If not this chapter, the next chapter will definitely have a fight scene.

Sakura: Who cares! Kakashi-sensei is confusing me with Rin-san!

Fire: Um…ja?

Sakura: (still yelling at Fire) Why can't you pair me with someone _young_ and handsome! It's not too difficult to drag Sasuke to me! We were already going out! Why can't you just leave it at that! Shannaro!

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	9. Eight: Obstacles

Fire: Okay, I got a PM from Sakura-and-Gaara-4ever-san and realized that I neglected to mention the pairings for this story. (bows) Gomen nasai. I'm going to mention it again even though I've already replied to you, 4ever-san.

Sasuke: Obviously. Go to the profile page, damned lazy bas—

Fire: Don't yell at the audience!

Kisame: We have to repeat this again? It's a _series_. There are pairings that don't change.

Naruto: I'm with Sasuke!

Fire: Yes, there's SasuNaru, and it's very important to the storyline. Originally, I wrote this as a SasuNaru, so the plotline revolves around it. – –;; I know, it's weird, but it does. After that, there's the onesided SakuSasu pairing. It's also a constant in the series.

Sasori: Then of course, there's Sakura and me. We're very popular.

Deidara: I'll be trying to steal Sakura away later.

Sasori: No. You're not.

Sasuke: I'm the cowriter. I'll be deciding that.

Fire: Um…there's also KakaSaku, but I've already made that obvious, right? And—

Lee: (cries) Sakura-san! (sob)

Fire: I think that's obvious too. – –;; Onesided LeeSaku is another constant pairing. I think that's all the pairings in this book for now. I might add more later if I decide that it will benefit the storyline. I've hinted at a ShikaSaku, but more of that will come up later.

Sakura: When Fire says multiple pairings for me, there really are multiple pairings.

Tobi: (holds up the Bag of Reviews) …

Fire: Oh yes, Tobi!

Sakura: You're not pairing me with Tobi, are you?

Fire: Um…no.

Kisame: Did 4ever-san want the pairings for the other books in this series? There's slight NejiSaku in _Wait for Me: Aku no Yami_ and slight OrochiSaku in _Wait for Me: Following_ in additional to the constant pairings that appear in all the books in this series.

Tobi: Reviews? (waving review window)

Fire: Tobi's so diligent! (takes the review window and pats Tobi on the head) Gomen nasai, Rikki-san. I didn't know you had sent your resume to Sasuke. – –;; But Tobi's so enthusiastic. I can't say no to him.

Kisame: I say no to him in place of Fire.

Fire: And Naruto will be back, just not anytime soon. His current state is important to the story. (stares at the air) Déjà vu. Did I say that before?

Sasuke: I think you did.

Fire: Oh well, I also said that Kakashi and Sakura is a definite pairing in this story, so don't worry about that either. As for Deidara, he'll be here in either the next chapter or the chapter after the next. I don't quite remember the exact moment he's supposed to be back.

Deidara: Hey! I'm important! You should remember me!

Kisame: You're not me. You should just go and blow something up.

Deidara: … (grabs a lump of clay from his clay pouch) Sakura it is!

Sakura: O.O Nani! Don't blow me up!

Sasori: Yeah! I need her for my new puppet. Get away from her! (grabs Sakura away)

Fire: But thank you for sending your vote every chapter. I still like reading them. Send me your argument next time.

Sasuke: And a name! What are we supposed to call you! --...O3O-san? That's what you wrote for the review!

Fire: Sasuke's being his usual self. He's cranky since Naruto's still dead. As for your review, Soda-san, yes, Akatsuki will be involved in the storyline. I can't exactly tell you how, but you'll see in the next few chapters. They're planning something.

Tobi: Am I going to die?

Fire: … (avoiding the question) Roll the next chapter! (hidden gears pulls chapter 8 onto the screen)

Tobi: Hey! Am I going to die!

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Disclaimer: The verb "to shunshin," all conjugations and derivatives (ie. I shunshin, you shunshin, he/she shunshins, etc, shunshin-ed, shunshin-ing) belong to Fire. If you have no idea what the word means, send a review or a PM for an explanation, but if you either watch the Naruto anime in Japanese or read the Naruto manga, you should already know what this is!

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**Chapter 8: Obstacles**

'_**M**y heart is broken and not even you can fix it. On that day, I swore I will never love again. So please–since I will never be accepted, since I will never hold a place in your heart–please, allow my heart of stone to feel something for others. Please heal this wound in my chest.'_

**Z**etsu growled to himself, annoyed at the reaction of the other Akatsuki members in the cave. Tobi had failed his mission, and no one said anything about it. They were only yelling at him. Tobi was _his _subordinate. He should have kept a better eye on him. That was what they all said.

"**Tobi says he has important news about the Kyuubi,"**Zetsu said as the irritation of his immediate company grew. He decided to change the subject so that he could kill Tobi as soon as possible. The sooner they heard what Tobi had to say, the sooner they would deem him useless, and the sooner he could eat him. _'Che! Yell at the damn idiot who failed in his mission!'_

"I don't care about his important news! It's probably not important anyway. We should just kill him, yeah," Deidara glared at Tobi from his side of the cave. "He failed. Fighting against a full member of Akatsuki–even if Sasori-sama has left our organization–he should have died!" Everyone else who lost against a member of Akatsuki had died. He refused to believe that Tobi was special.

"But isn't the Kyuubi more important? I don't care about Sasori. We can kill him later." The voice came from the huge shadow looming over everyone's heads.

"Tell us about the Kyuubi. If it's not good, we'll kill you," the leader said from his side of the cave.

Tobi looked confidently around the cave before speaking. It wasn't about the importance of the information–okay, maybe it was–but the most important thing was that he looked confident while saying it. Even if the information was correct and useful, it was useless if they thought he was lying just because his mannerisms weren't trustworthy.

"The Kyuubi's chakra wasn't in Konoha," Tobi began. He had searched all over the village. If the Kyuubi was nearby, he would definitely have sensed his presence.

"Because it's Orochimaru's technique. _That _technique," the huge shadow interrupted from above everyone's heads.

"It resurrects a soul from the afterlife. Maybe that boy had resurrected the Kyuubi as well."

"Sasori-sama said that it was one soul to one body. It makes sense that he's not here," Deidara said to the shorter shadow beside him. "We should kill Tobi for his failure! Even if the Kyuubi wasn't brought back, the jinchuuriki should be in the village!"

"Capture the jinchuuriki," the leader decided. Deidara was right. Even if the Kyuubi wasn't back, the kid who had housed him should be back Zetsu's information was flawless. Even though no one in the cave could think of a way to detach the two intertwined souls–the soul of the jinchuuriki and the soul of the bijuu–the Uchiha could have thought of something they hadn't discovered yet. And that meant... "We may still be able to harvest the bijuu from him." He turned to look at Tobi. "_Someone_ just wasn't thorough enough in his search."

And Tobi shivered into himself at the words. "The jinchuuriki wasn't in the village," he said shakily before strengthening his voice again. If he allowed himself to show weakness now, they would surely kill him. "His chakra disappeared suddenly."

"That could be a problem," the huge shadow mused. He never thought that anyone would keep a summoning in that state.

"Hm..." the Leader said as he looked around the room.

"We're not going to send Tobi again, are we?" Deidara shouted in annoyance. They _couldn't_ send Tobi again. "He already failed! He'll probably just fail again."

"Tobi didn't fail," Tobi denied. He had just retreated for now. "I'll definitely defeat Sasori-sama next time!"

"You failed, baka! We're not sending you again!" Deidara glared at the minion before turning to the leader. "I'll go. Sasori-sama was my partner. I should be the one to kill him!"

There were only Tobi's protests in the cave as everyone waited for the Leader's decision.

"Deidara can go." The leader decided after a long moment of thought.

"Tobi wants another chance, minna-sama!"

"No." And the leader vanished. That was his decision, and he wasn't going to change his mind. "Ask me again and you _will_ die." No one could say that he was unfair, that he was mean or evil. He gave Tobi a second chance.

**O**nly the clicking of newly made puppets filled the empty room. Sasori smiled as the hidden sword snapped out efficiently. It was satisfactory, for now. The poison coating this blade was even more potent than the one he had used on Sakura long ago, was even more condensed, was even stronger than the one he had used on Tobi. Not even his pink-haired master should be able to create an antidote for it. Not her, or her shishou, the Hokage.

And certainly not Uchiha Sasuke.

Sasori was thinking of him again. His hands wanted to grab that dark-haired bastard's neck and tear it apart every time he remembered that incident. That memory drove him to better his puppets. This new poison was made especially for him, and the improvements on these mindless, chakra-less puppets were made in preparation of his death as well.

He _will _kill him.

The problem wasn't that he couldn't do it. Sasori knew that it would be easy. Everyone knew where the Uchiha was. The ANBU had found him within seconds, as soon as he left the Hokage tower. It wasn't difficult. A man without his mind wasn't worthy prey for the best of hunters. And the ANBU were the best of hunters.

Sasuke was home. That woman Hokage had decided that he wasn't a threat as long as he was going to lock himself away from the rest of the village. The reasoning was almost the same as the one she had used for Sasori. She had sent two squads of ANBU to keep an eye on him, and went back to work. Sasori suspected that they were the same people who were assigned to watch him when they first returned from Oto no Sato, no one significantly strong. It was just experience for the newest ANBU teams. But he could see the reasoning behind it. They had recently rebuilt the ties between Konoha and their allied nations, and missions were pouring in nonstop. The Hokage had to look over all the new missions, and rank them before assigning them to shinobi. She had no time to worry over one potentially dangerous man.

That was why Sasuke's security was so simple. Two squads of ANBU. Eight people. The Suna-nin could easily defeat such a small group. It wasn't many, and he was definitely stronger than a member of the Konoha ANBU. He only needed to get pass them, and he could kill that damned Uchiha.

Anger spilled within his chest, fuelling his desire to kill the brat. But he knew that he shouldn't be so angry. Sasori knew that he had no reason to be angry. It was too strange. It was weird, impossible that he should feel an emotion so strongly. It was unnatural.

He really wanted to be a puppet again.

At first, he was confused. He contemplated his emotions for a long time after he brought Sakura to the hospital. He couldn't stop the pain that spread through his chest. He didn't know if it was his emotion, or if it belonged to Sakura. All he knew was that he wanted vengeance. He wanted to kill Sasuke.

And he felt nothing for her! It wasn't possible for him to feel anything for the girl. He refused to allow himself to think of her as anything other than an obstacle that he had to eliminate if he wanted freedom. She was too annoying. She was too average. She had no beauty. She was too flat-chested to elicit the emotions that boiled in his chest. It shouldn't be difficult to kill her! He felt nothing for her. He hated her. He only watched over her because he still didn't know if their lives were intertwined, if he would die at the same time she died. That was it. There was nothing more. He just needed to find out whether he could kill her without killing himself!

'_Kuso!'_ He growled annoyedly as his eyes fell on the puppet in his hand. He had neglected his puppets again. He forgot about the weapons, _again_. Restless annoyance was growing in his chest again. What was that annoyance? _'Uchiha Sasuke!'_ Every time he allowed his mind to wander, he wanted to kill him. Every time he tried to gather his patience enough to create a new puppet, he anticipated the moment he had the Uchiha's neck in his hands.

He was going to kill that dark-haired bastard for hurting Sakura.

'_It's only pity!'_ He argued with the voice in his head that tried to convince him that it was something else. It was pity! He felt pity for her. That was why she wanted to hurt that damned Uchiha brat. He pitied her useless existence. She was pining away for a heartless person who thought nothing of her, who lived in his own world of pain and fantasy, just to fill his heart with a dead man, and his mind with anything but him. And she was okay with it!

The girl was blinder than he had thought.

"Sasori, I'm back," Sakura said as she walked into the living room. After yelling at Kakashi a few days earlier, she just wanted to forget about him, and his obsession with drawing her back into his team. "What are you doing?" She stared at the redhead sitting amongst a mass of wood limbs and metal weapons. "Are you working on Orochimaru?"

"No." He held up the head, his expression serious as he said, "I'm working on your father."

Sakura stared at the head as fear filled her body. _'No!'_ But she recognized it almost immediately. "Sasori! That's not funny!" The wood puppet really looked like her father.

"I finished working on Orochimaru weeks ago." He turned to the puppet again, snapping the head onto the rest of the body. Orochimaru was really finished. Extra weapons were necessary on a hitokugutsu, but he didn't have to add anything to make the Sannin puppet strong. "I'm going for a walk." He rose as the puppet vanished into a small cloud of smoke, then sank into the open scroll at its side. Black writing marked the white paper before Sasori rolled it into his hand.

"Where?" Sakura looked suspiciously at Sasori. He had given every sign that he wanted more hitokugutsu, and he had spent the last few days locked in the living room, or her room, making these new puppets. Her room was a mass of wood shavings. She couldn't believe that he would just take a normal walk, not when he had already created a small army of puppets. In a village full of shinobi, he should find no shortage of material for new hitokugutsu. "Are you going to kill someone..." ...and make him into a puppet?

"What makes you say that?" Sasori smiled to himself before waving lightly at the girl. "Ja ne." And he shunshin-ed away, leaving only a swirl of sand where he was standing.

He had completely avoided the question.

'_Sasori, come back and tell me what you're planning to do!'_ Sakura's mind screamed. She wasn't going to let him go without knowing what he was going to do. If she allowed him to hurt anyone, Tsunade would punish _her_, not Sasori. Already, she could feel her frustrated command vibrating through his body, sending him rippling back. "Sasori!" She called loudly into the empty air. He could ignore her mind, but he couldn't ignore verbal commands. Once they were said, they were material and real. He couldn't dismiss reality so easily.

"Kuso onna! Do you have to be so forceful?" Sasori glared annoyedly at the girl. _'If I was only a little farther away...'_ If he was only a little farther away, he would have been too far away for her command to work.

Sakura grinned evilly at him. "Yes." She wasn't going to back down. She wasn't going to let anyone yell at her for something Sasori did. "Who are you going to kill?" What was she saying! _'Just tell him not to do it!'_ But her curiosity made her ask before she could give her command.

"Someone who deserves to die." He pulled at his limbs, trying to get away. He was okay with giving such vague answers to her, but she would ask him for a more specific answer next, and he needed to get away before he answered it! He could still fight back. She didn't have total control over him! "Did you want to watch?" He smiled, the same evil smile that graced his face in Kawa no Kuni. Slowly...very slowly, he was gaining control of the conversation, and of himself.

It was only a precaution. She had thought he was kidding. "No. I don't want to watch!" But he was serious! "Just tell me who it is." He really wanted to kill someone! "Sasori tell me his name!"

"I'll bring you his head. You can see later." His voice and expressions were unwavering, filled with sincerity.

"No thanks," Sakura said, annoyed that he was still avoiding the question. She didn't know what was wrong. He wasn't obeying her. He should have told her the shinobi's name by now.

"Good. I'll be leaving then." Sasori vanished.

"Who is it?" Sakura's firm voice filled he empty air, but she knew that Sasori had heard. "At least tell me..." If he was going to kill someone, he could at least tell her who it was. She had tried to stop him, but it was obvious that his will was stronger today. If he really wanted to kill someone–not just on a whim, but really, truly wanted to kill him–there was no way she could stop him. She couldn't hold him back. His mind and his body had already slipped away.

And there was nothing. Sasori wasn't going to tell her.

'_Shannaro!'_ She had to know who it was. For all she knew, it could be–

'_Uchiha Sasuke.'_ The name flew through her mind and she knew that this was Sasori's answer to her question. His thoughts were so filled with the dark-haired shinobi that it was spilling into her mind.

"Shannaro!" Sakura's mind flared in annoyance. Sasori had avoided telling her. He was probably already...

'_Kinobori no Waza!'_ The girl jumped out the window onto the wall outside, her feet running across the surface perpendicular to the ground. She needed to get to Sasuke, and she needed to get there now! Before Sasori could kill him!

**T**he village was relatively quiet during the day. Their new treaties and ongoing alliance with Suna discouraged anyone from attacking them, and there was no fear of Suna breaking the alliance again, not with the new Kazekage; Gaara's connection with Konoha was strong thanks to Naruto. The other hidden villages had finally quieted down and refrained from any thoughts of attacking Konoha, especially with Otogakure no Sato gone.

So, there hadn't been any particularly difficult missions. Kakashi was glad since he was absentminded after their return from Oto. He really suspected that Hokage-sama knew about it and has been holding the more difficult missions for others, but he wasn't going to tell her that she wasn't giving him any real missions. If she gave him a mission suitable for his rank, he would probably get himself killed.

But the jounin was going to see her anyway...even though he was walking through the village with thoughts of pink hair and green eyes in his mind. _'What do you want, sensei? What do you really need?'_ Her voice from earlier that week still echoed in his mind. Those two questions reminded him of the void in his chest, gnawing away his emotions until he was hollow.

"What do I want?" He mused as his feet took him forwards. "What do I need?" He already knew the answers to that. He wanted to convince her to come back. Even if Sasuke and Naruto weren't there, she could still be a shinobi because she...

The masked man slumped at the thought. _'Oh yeah,'_ he realized as the thought faded. He was about to argue that she didn't become a shinobi for _them_. But that wasn't true. The strength that she had wanted and the power that she had gained as a shinobi...it was all for them. Without Sasuke and Naruto, there was no reason to continue. There was nothing keeping her with him.

He never had luck with teams. Everyone always left him.

"Sakura," Kakashi sighed. He truly was confusing her with Rin. That promise he had made to Obito... _'I'll look after you for Obito. Because of that, I'll protect you even if I die.'_ ...no longer applied. This wasn't Rin. This _really _wasn't Rin.

Then, the sound of running vibrated through the streets, drawing his attention away from his thoughts. "Get out of my way!"

Kakashi looked up to see the pink-haired girl fly down the street, or rather the wall of the buildings lining the street. Whatever she was doing–running perpendicular to the ground–was a mystery to him.

"Sakura! You should run _on the ground_!" Kakashi called lightheartedly to the girl, all his worries and all the troubles that had weighed on him a moment ago gone before he sensed killer intent around him. His uncovered eye widened as he looked around, the disapproving faces of shinobi and regular citizens watching him.

"That's him? That's the one?"

"I can't believe it. The Copy Ninja? No. That can't be right!"

"It's true! Did you hear him call her name?"

Kakashi didn't know what was happening, but he could hear it distinctly. There was a rumour in Konoha. And he was in the middle of it. "Um..." He didn't know what to do. They looked like they were going to kill him.

"It's not right, Kakashi-senpai," a chuunin said from nearby, although she wasn't looking directly at the grey-haired man. "She's thirteen years your junior."

"Nani?" Kakashi had no idea what they were talking about. "Sakura and I are–"

"He's admitting it!"

'_Kuso!'_ Kakashi could see the crowd already believing the outburst. Without another thought, he ran, unsure of what else to do. If he stayed, they were definitely going to kill him.

**S**asuke looked out at the empty sky, the blue reminding him of a different day when he looked into similar blue. "Naruto..." he said slowly as he stretched his body out on the walkway, his head dangling upside down from the edge, his legs inside the blood covered room. He had dreamt of him again. The images were so strong that he thought he really was standing with Naruto.

But it was too easy. They were too comfortable. He had never been comfortable with Naruto before. They were always fighting, or yelling at each other, or awkward, or angry at each other, or ignoring each other. There was always something.

In the dream, they were happy.

The Uchiha closed his eyes and Naruto was looking back at him. In the world of darkness, he was free. The scent of blood coming from behind him was gone. There was nothing but him and Naruto. "Naruto, I..." ...he still wanted to die with him. The lightness that surrounded his body was just like that day, the day they had died together. And he could only feel disgusted with himself for feeling happiness. At that moment, he was content. At that moment, he had known salvation. Being with Naruto in his last moments of life was all he needed in this world. And he wanted to feel that again.

Free from all his burdens, his body was light. The draft of wind that stirred the night black hair on his head made him feel as if he was in Naruto's arms again. And for a moment, he was at peace.

Then, the black cloud of blood that constantly chased him was back again. When he opened his eyes, he was in the unforgiving world of his lonely home. The dream had shattered once more. Naruto was gone. And in his place, the deformed face of a puppet filled his vision.

Sasuke was confused for a moment before leaping to his feet, away from the puppet. _'Orochimaru?'_ He was told that the Sannin was dead!

The soft clicks of moving puppet limbs turned the Sannin's head toward his former student, but where words once were, there was nothing. The Sannin's acrid speeches were gone. Instead, he flew at the Uchiha with the unnatural flight of an object rather than a living person. And Sasuke knew immediately. The Sannin was a puppet.

'_Sasori!'_

Sasuke ran for his kunai pouch within the room. At home, he didn't carry weapons, and he was beginning to think that it was a bad idea. At least he made a habit of keeping them near. That was a habit that he had yet to break. The thought of his brother returning to kill him at any time was still fresh in his mind, even though it was irrational. His brother was dead. But he was still glad to have that habit.

The Uchiha swept around, a kunai held firmly in his hand as he stared into the wooden face of a puppet. Its resemblance to Sakura almost unsettled him before he leapt away, narrowly avoiding the poison-tipped blade that sprang toward his torso.

'_Sharingan!'_

He wasn't going to forget who this was. This was Sasori, a member of Akatsuki. And even if he was no longer with the organization, he was still stronger than a kage. He wasn't going to underestimate a man who could easily be stronger than his brother.

**End Chapter 8**

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Fire's English tidbits for those who care:

I've been talking about grammar lately and I realized that I had neglected the writer's tips. So here are two tidbits that will help. Voices. I'm going to talk about the passive voice today. Next chapter will be the active voice. There are several ways to write a sentence, all conveying the same idea and same meanings. However, the voice of the sentence conveys emotions and ideas separate from what is said, and depending on the voice, the focus of the sentence changes. The passive voice is written with the verb "to be" and the past participle. For example, "The ramen was eaten by Naruto." The subject is the receiver of the action and the object can be omitted completely, resulting in "The ramen was eaten." By using the passive voice, the focus of the sentence shifts to the ramen, as opposed to Naruto in "Naruto ate the ramen." This voice has characteristics unique to the voice, like the element of mystery. "The ramen was eaten," denotes that the person who had eaten the ramen is unknown. ( Look! Passive voice!) The person who ate the ramen could have been someone else!

Fire's babbling:

Fire: If you were wondering about the rumour…

Sasuke: Sasori started it.

Sasori: It's obvious what he wants to do.

Fire: What did you say again?

Sasori: Hatake Kakashi has been dating Haruno Sakura, his former student, in secret, and he has been forcing her to do ecchi things with him, even though she's thirteen years younger than him. (shrugs) Nothing serious. I was bored while making my puppets.

Sakura: O.O What ecchi stuff!

Sasuke: (nodding) I understand why all those people were angry now.

Sasori: I'm still going to kill you, teme! (runs at Sasuke)

Sasuke: (shunshins away) …

Kisame: Save the chakra for me! (runs after Sasuke with Samehada)

Fire: – –;; I guess everyone left. Well, review! Review and tell me if it was boring! Thought there was going to be fighting in this chapter, but I forgot that it was all in the next chapter. Just more setup. I know. I'm a horrible person. (shouts) Kisame! (runs after Kisame) I need a hug!

Sakura: …

Tobi: Left us here alone.

Sakura: (nods) I'm leaving.

Tobi: (waves at the audience) Return next chapter for the actual fight scenes.

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	10. Nine: Desperation

Fire: Don't kill me!

Kisame: Why would I do that?

Fire: I'm not talking to you!

Sasuke: Fire thinks that some readersare angry.

Fire: I didn't put the fight scene in the last chapter like I promised!

Sasori: I don't care. I'm still going to kill him! (points at Sasuke) Right?

Sasuke: I'm the cowriter. Do you really think I'm going to let you kill me?

Fire: Sasuke's one of the main characters. And I can't kill him again! That would be too repetitive!

Naruto: The insanity in every book so far isn't repetitive?

Fire: (matter of fact) There was no insanity in the first book.

Kisame: Like we said, it's not repetitive?

Tobi: Review? (pulls a review window from the Big Bag of Reviews)

Fire: Tobi! (hugs Tobi) You saved me!

Tobi: (watches everyone glaring at him and sweats profusely) …

Kisame: No interruptions!

Sasuke: Hm...Blowkiss-san...how interesting. We finally got a name to call this DeiSakuSaso fanatic. O.o;;;

Deidara: I'm finally appearing, yeah! My fans will be so happy!

Fire: Actually, this chapter was spilt into two since it was getting long, and I thought that the last four pages would be better on its own. Besides, I tend to add anywhere between 25 and 50 more pages when I edit and proofread, and those four pages move away from the theme of the chapter. – –;; Not sure if anyone understands that, but chapters tend to have themes or an idea that everything revolves around. So gomen nasai to everyone for creating a cliffhanger at the end of the last chapter! But that also means that Deidara won't be appearing until the beginning of the chapter 11.

Deidara: What? (pulls out clay) Fine. I'll just make you a present with my kibaku nendo, yeah!

Kisame: Keep your crazy art away from Fire!

Fire: As for the other reviews… (scrolls down the review window) Hm…

Sasori: (yells at Soda-san) My split emotions are intriguing!

Fire: Hm…I thought that was normal. You were hitting on her when you were fighting her the first time. You kept talking about how she wasn't like a girl at all.

Sakura: That was an insult! And I don't care about this freak! Look at these shoulder blades! (shivers disgustedly)

Fire: Okay, Sakura may or may not have feelings for Sasori at this point in the story. I've tried hinting at it, but it's very difficult when they're both feeling so strongly against each other.

Sakura: That's right! I love Sasuke-kun!

Deidara: But I'm winning them over, yeah?

Fire: – –;; We'll see. I don't know if I want you ending up with Sakura. Blowing her up might be fun, but it'll definitely ruin the storyline.

Sasori: And Kakashi! (yelling at Forbidden Love08-san) I'm stronger _and _cuter than Kakashi! Look at my bishie smile! (attempts a smile)

Deidara: That smile's scarier than Gaara's, yeah? I wouldn't want that looking back at me everyday. – –;; Of course, I had to live with it, being his partner. But he's so old!

Sasori: Who are you calling old!

Fire: I thought I was addressing the reviews.

Tobi: Sasori-sama grabbed the extra review window from me, Fire-san. Gomen nasai.

Fire: (sighs) Well, since I have no reviews to address. We'll just move on to the chapter. (looks around)

Kisame: What are you doing?

Fire: Looking for the slaves that pull them up.

Kisame: Just let Tobi do it.

Fire: Tobi?

Tobi: (pulls chapter 9 onto the screen) …

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**Chapter 9: Desperation**

'_**E**ven though this heart of stone can no longer feel, facing this misery, it seeps through. I hate him...he who stole you away. I hate him even though I don't want this ugly hatred. I wanted to remain the innocent person who first saw you, the person you knew and trusted. I wanted to retain that eternal innocence. So, onegai shimasu...give me the strength to hold back this turbulent jealousy before I become inhuman, or unfossilize this granite to flesh so I can find a different destiny. So I can find a new future without your crippling pain chaining me.'_

**T**he fleeting moment of peace had passed. Thoughts of the sky, and of Naruto, vanished as soon as the Sannin's puppet arms clawed for him. As soon as that poison-tipped blade reached at his torso, Sasuke knew that Sasori was trying to kill him.

It had to be Sasori! No one else had this level of skill. Not even Sabaku no Kankurou had this flawless puppetry, had the ability to not only create a hitokugutsu, but also to wield it skilfully. If it was the Sasuke from three years ago, from before he went to Oto no Sato, from before he forced himself to become stronger, he would have died instantly. He wouldn't have been quick enough to see the attack. That poison-tipped blade would have skewered him.

Red eyes fell on every surface of the blood caked room. The stench of blood hung freshly in the air, even though it had been over a week since Sasuke last cut himself here. His senses flooded with superfluous stimuli. He barely felt the kunai in his hand as he pushed the Sakura-resembling puppet back. The puppet's clicking thickened the air, dulling his hearing. _'Chikusho!'_ He couldn't even see Sasori's location!

And there was no time to look! The puppet, pushed back momentarily, had recovered. It flew at Sasuke, serrated saws flying at his face. But his sharingan already saw through those movements. The Uchiha swept past every weapon with ease.

However, Sasori had never expected the attack to work. He already knew about the sharingan. He already knew its abilities. Itachi wasn't a useless member after all. The only ways to attack the sharingan with kugutsu were to attack from an area he couldn't see, to blind him, or to trap him in a foolproof trap. And the Suna-nin already had something in mind.

Sasuke turned at the sound of clicking as his hand rammed through the Sakura-resembling puppet, smashing through the chest cavity. _'If he thinks I won't attack it because it looks like Sakura...'_ And he was sent flying through the air by a wood arm. By the time the cool air of midday filled his nostrils, he was already lying in his personal hole in the garden, his eyes fixed on the sky.

His head throbbed painfully, the feeling of sticky wetness matting his hair as he stared up. Sasuke tested an arm, then a leg, trying to lift it, but they weren't listening. He couldn't rise. His entire body was paralysed...for at least a few more seconds. And that was all Sasori needed to kill him.

'_Naruto...'_ He thought as his red eyes looked into the white and blue sky. _'I...'_ This wasn't how he wanted to return to Naruto. _'I can't!'_ He couldn't return to Naruto like this! In a state like this, after losing to someone who wasn't even Itachi's equal, he couldn't face Naruto! He refused to die like this! _'I can't die!'_ He pulled at his limbs. His mind strained against the darkness creeping over his consciousness. But it was useless.

Darkness enveloped him before he could see the cold hands of the puppetmaster.

**I**t was too late. It was too late. As she stared at the broken door of Sasuke's house, Sakura refused to repeat those words in her head, but they came anyway. It was too late. _'Sasuke-kun's... Sasuke-kun's...'_ She couldn't find the strength to push through those broken doors. She couldn't find the strength to see them. They were both in there, Sasori and Sasuke. She didn't know what she would do, what she _could _do if they were still fighting each other, if one of them had died. She had come all the way here, worried about her ex-teammate...and now she couldn't even find the strength to pass through those broken doors and save him.

"Sakura!" Familiar grey hair and a half-covered face looked down at Sakura from her side. His breath was short from running. After seeing her rushing so urgently–and after all the people around him tried to kill him–he had decided that it was best to follow her. And his intuition was correct. "Nan des-ka?" She had to be running for something more than just standing here.

"Kakashi-sensei," she said slowly before turning longingly toward the door again. "I..." It stood as an invisible wall between her and Sasuke, something she could never break through. It was impossible. Behind it was only another wall, and beyond that, another. The walls were endless, and they were all named Naruto.

From where he stood, Kakashi clearly saw the uncertainty contorting Sakura's face. He didn't even know what he was doing there. He didn't know why he chose to follow her. His feet had automatically pulled him from that threatening crowd to the pink-haired girl. It couldn't just be intuition. Always partnering himself with the girl...he was the other half in their two-man team. And not knowing what to do made him feel foolish, inferior for standing at her side, because he was only useless in situations like these.

"You want to see him, don't you?" His voice came softly, his body reluctant to hear the answer. _'No! I know she does!'_ He already knew what she was going to say, what she would always say. His body shouldn't ache like this. His head shouldn't be dizzying in an effort to avoid her words. His heart shouldn't be falling so dejectedly just at the thought of her answer. _'She waited for three years to be with him again.'_ She didn't have to answer for him to know that it was a yes. "Then..." he said as he wrapped a sweaty palm tightly around his emotions and threw them aside. "...we should see him, Sakura!" The pain vanished as he grabbed her hand and pulled her into the house.

As he pulled Sakura through the halls, the dried trails of burgundy leading them to their destination, his mind dwelled on the phantom pain that still lingered around his body. The expression on her face...that emotion of brooding darkness...it shouldn't exist. He had destroyed

it long ago, when he brought her back from Oto no Sato. Seeing it again, he didn't know what she would do. Already, her hands rose with the gaunt fingers of dozens of dead men clinging to its surface. Those souls were heavy. He knew it too well to want her to suffer in the same way. So, he brought her to Sasuke. Even though he didn't want Sasuke to take Sakura from him, he had brought her to him. He knew that only one man could lift Sakura from her prison. And it wasn't him.

But as they came to Sasuke's room, doubt seeped into his mind. For the first time since he entered the house, the wretched stench of red iron marking the air and the crumbling dried blood beneath his feet bombarded the grey-haired jounin's senses, heightening them with alarms of danger. And he couldn't understand Sakura's calmness. Even though she stood in this blood-soaked environment, she only looked sadly at the door. There was no wariness even though the markings of red looked so recent, even though the Keimu Butai hadn't spent a moment of time to clear some of this blood away.

And the pink-haired girl really wasn't disturbed at all. As soon as Kakashi pulled her into the house, all the nervous anxiety filling her body vanished instantly. Was it the proximity to Sasuke? Was that enough to calm her when his body raged with adrenaline?

He was jealous.

"Sasori!" Sakura's sudden shout dragged Kakashi's attention from his thoughts. He didn't even notice her pushing the doors open. "Sasori..." And she was shouting Sasori's name. It just didn't sound right.

But she saw it clearly as the doors fell away, revealing the cold room where all her nightmares lay. This was the room where the past was ripped apart. This room weakened her body and stabbed her sight until tears fell across her cheeks. But it still wasn't enough to distract her from what she saw. The redhead was standing over Sasuke's body. Through the room filled with nightmares, past the open shouji doors into the garden, the dark-haired boy lay with his face to the sky, his neck open to the poisoned kunai in Sasori's hand.

"...yose!" Sakura pushed herself from the ground, propelling herself forwards. But the kunai was already falling by the time she leapt into the garden.

**I**n unconsciousness, there was no light, no sound, no pain. It was comforting. There was nothing to hurt him. This world that he had lived in for such a long time...he had missed it. As insane as it was to miss this world of apathy, it was the truth. After killing Itachi, he was driven from this place, but he was glad just to be back. _'Naruto...' _In this world of escape, he didn't have to feel the pain of losing Naruto anymore. The sharp emotional claws tearing through his skin at that searing loneliness could finally retract. Here, emotions didn't exist.

And he wondered why he wanted to stay awake so badly.

Sasuke closed his eyes, his body leadening with every slow second. This was the peace he was searching for. Soon...he knew soon, he would leave the living world. Sasori's killer intent still hovered over his body, but he didn't care. He couldn't make himself care. If Naruto wasn't here, there was no reason to fight back. That battle before...he hadn't put any effort in it. The cursed seal wasn't even reacting.

'_No!'_ His mind still screamed as he sank deeper into unconsciousness. Even though his thoughts had resigned themselves to death, his heart still longed to die with Naruto, to have Naruto's arms holding him as he slipped away from this world...as he did the first time he died. Because if Naruto was holding him, he could die without the burden of knowing he had ended his entire family line with his last breath. _'I can't die!'_ That was why he couldn't die!

His mind pulled itself from the pallid hands of death. Even on the edge of death, his thoughts remained vigilantly at the blond chuunin's side. He had to think of a way to do it. He had promised! He couldn't die before he fulfilled that promise. Even though he couldn't think of anything, he had to be strong. He had tried to be strong! But his tensei abilities were still inferior. They were only strong enough for a day, to hold Naruto for a day and not be able to touch him...and Sasuke's technique was weakening every time. Soon, Naruto would have only been a pile of ash in the wood coffin.

'_That's why I can't! I can't die yet, Naruto!'_ He had defeated two members of Akatsuki. He would find a way to gain strength. He would find a way to bring back his dobe! He refused to allow this defective Akatsuki member to kill him! _'I will find a way!'_ Akatsuki had made these men strong. _'I will become stronger!'_

The darkness tore away from Sasuke's body as he sat up, his hand grabbing Sasori's wrist before the poisoned weapon could fall. That was it! He wasn't strong enough to bring Naruto back...but he knew who could help him gain that strength. He knew someone who could bring Naruto back for him. And he refused to die before then!

"Sasuke-kun!"

At the voice, Sasuke's black eyes turned around the garden. Sakura was in his home again. Without permission. "You're here?" His eyes locked on the owner of those hands wrapped around Sasori's hand, and his own. Behind Sakura, he distinctly felt Kakashi's presence lingering, reluctant to disrupt their dispute. But that just made it easier for Sasuke to decide.

He was going to do it.

"I'm leaving."

'_Leaving?'_ Sakura couldn't believe what Sasuke had said. Her hands shook weakly at the idea that he would leave her again.

"Leaving?" Sasori stared irritatedly at Sasuke, his mind unable to wind around those words, the idea of leaving before he died. "You're not going anywhere!" He wrenched his arm from Sakura's momentarily weakened grasp, the kunai falling at Sasuke again.

"Che!" Sasuke pushed himself from the ground, his feet landing on the surface of the wall lining the garden before Sasori could strike. "Weakling." He stood out of reach.

Sasori glared up at Sasuke. _'Weaking?'_ He wasn't a weakling! He was a genius! "Shi-ne!"

'_Senei Jyashu!'_

Orochimaru leapt at Sasuke, snakes flying from his arms. The snakes reached for Sasuke with their sharp teeth, hoping to sink their fangs in before he could get away. But Sasuke only smiled at the attempt. He was always stronger than Orochimaru, always crazier than Orochimaru. It was impossible for Orochimaru to defeat him. With a single wave of his hand, Sasuke sliced the snakes' heads in half, sending blood splattering across the ground.

"Sasuke-kun! You can't be serious!" Sakura shouted shakily through the fray. She didn't understand a thing he had said. He was leaving. He wanted to leave her again. "I can't let you go!" What was there left to do now that Itachi was dead?

But Sakura just couldn't understand his thoughts. _'I lied to him.'_ He could still remember the memories that filled his mind at Shuumatsu no Tani. _'My future is not where my dream is. It's in the past...that's where it'll always be.'_ His dreams, his hopes and desires...he had placed it all behind him, in a life he knew he could never have, in happiness he could never feel again. Until Naruto came and threw him into a reality he had wanted to avoid.

It was a lie.

Without his knowing it, his dreams had shifted to a new place. _'Naruto...'_ The bearer of his dreams, and the man who held his dreams so easily in his hands. Naruto...he would do anything to bring him back. Even if it meant killing himself, he would have Naruto in his arms again.

"Shannaro! Sasuke-ku–"

Sasori cut through the air, a barrage of kunai flying at Sasuke's head as puppets soared at him. He wasn't stopping. He had decided to kill this man, and he wasn't going to stop until he was a puppet in his army. His second hitokugutsu. He needed quality material for his next one. It was going to be awhile before he reached three hundred again.

But he wasn't going to get the chance. "Sasori!" Sakura's voice bound his limbs, freezing him, and his puppets in place. "Yamete!" She shouted her order, even though he was already restrained.

"Hn." Sasuke's red eyes stared at Sasori from above. He hadn't known that a genius of Suna was so weak. One word and not even a command, and he froze as surely as if she had used kanashibari. "Sakura," he said, his mind still on his decision even though he wanted to taunt the redhead. He needed to leave. He needed all the time he had to find them. "I may not come back again." He had decided, and nothing could turn him away from his decision. There was only one place where he could gain the power and knowledge he needed, where he could bring Naruto back. And it wasn't here. "I really wanted to be in the Keimu Butai..." ...and continue his dreams from the past. He wanted to be like his father, to protect this village they all loved. But his dreams were bigger now. He wanted more than those hollow shells of the past. "I'm going to bring him back."

"He's dead!" Sakura shouted, angry in spite of understanding his emotions. It was always Naruto. It was Naruto. Naruto. Naruto. Naruto! "We can't bring him back. You can't bring him back! Can't you realize that!" She thought he was healing. He wasn't summoning him anymore. She had thought he could finally... "Sasuke-kun!" She thought that he would finally let her in. They could put the past behind them. They could move on! It still wasn't too late. He hadn't broken her yet!

"Che!" Sasori's shoulder blades raked the air at his sides, but there was nothing to dig into, nothing that could drag him from Sakura's control this time. He was too close. His will still wasn't strong enough. "Akatsuki..." Even under Sakura's control, even under such stress, he could still read Sasuke's mind. When two top level shinobi fight, they could read each other's minds. And they were still fighting, even if their fists weren't colliding. "Akatsuki isn't going to let a gaki like you into the organization!" This boy was too much like Orochimaru. He was too easy to read. It was the same thought that the Sannin had had years ago, when he left Konoha. Akatsuki could give him power that he couldn't find on his own. "You're too weak!" He pulled on his arms, but they still wouldn't move, and he couldn't pull them off anymore. If he could only pull them off, he could control their movements with the chakra in his shoulder blades. He could still kill Sasuke! _'Kuso! I want my puppet body back!'_

"A...katsuki..." Sakura's mind numbed, her body pounding in rejection of the thought. It can't be true! Sasuke couldn't be thinking of something so suicidal! Returning Naruto to this world wasn't worth throwing his life away! "I won't let you go!" She yelled, but her pleas never could reach the dark-haired shinobi. "Sasuke-kun!"

Sasori's body flew at Sasuke as easily as a true puppet, his hands reaching for the Uchiha's neck as his shoulder blades dug across the wall. All he needed was to catch him. All of Sakura's orders were to catch him. After that, if he really tried, he could crush his neck to dust.

"No," Sasuke said without a hint of fear. He closed his red eyes, his desire to fight fading for that moment. When he finally faced them, Akatsuki would want him to fight for them. He needed to conserve his chakra for when the time came. If possible, he wanted to avoid using the cursed seal. "And there's nothing you can do about it." He stepped away from Sasori, appearing instantly at Sakura's side, faster than she had seen him move in a very long time. "I'm leaving." He looked past Sakura at Kakashi, the grey-haired jounin who stood unsurely at the entrance to the garden. This man who had tried to stop him before... This man who had tried to stop him from going to Oto no Sato... It would be so easy to give in and allow this man to stop him, like he knew Kakashi would. It would be so easy to listen to Sakura and stay here. Even if he could never love her, she was still an important person, a friend and a teammate he cared about.

But living without Naruto was too painful. He had tried, and he couldn't do it. If he couldn't bring Naruto back...

Sasuke stared at the scars on his arms, fresh from the dozens of slashes he had inflicted across his own skin. Even though he had tried to forget him, he couldn't do it.

If he couldn't bring Naruto back, he would have to kill himself.

"Sayonara, Sakura."

And he shunshin-ed away before Sasori could wrench himself from the wall, before Sakura or Kakashi could stop him.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura shouted as she remembered her sensei's presence. As soon as Sasuke faded from her side, she remembered that he was there. Even though her body was still frozen with apprehension, still frozen with the thought that Sasuke would leave, even though he had already left, her mind remembered. Her body turned stiffly to the grey-haired shinobi behind her. "Why didn't you stop him?"

He was standing right there, watching the whole time. And the whole time, he couldn't bring himself to move. "Because..." Kakashi looked directly at Sakura, and he didn't know what to say. Wasn't it the same fear that she had felt? It was the thought of losing someone he cared about. "...I can't." But he couldn't just tell her the truth. Losing Sasuke or losing Sakura? If he stayed, her eyes would forever remain on him, and only him. With him gone, there was a chance. There was a very slight chance that she would come back. She could return to his side.

It was jealousy.

"And..." There was another reason too. It wasn't just because he didn't want to do it. If it was only that, his shinobi training would have taken over, and he could have suppressed these painful emotions. "He's stubborn. He would have gone eventually." Knowing Sasuke, he would find a way. Kakashi couldn't just ask him to stay, and he couldn't force him to stay either. He had tried before, long ago before their innocent world faded into the past.

'_He would have gone eventually?'_ The words cut deeply into Sakura's heart, choking her with the truth. _'That's true.'_ Nothing could make him give up on his dreams, on what he decided to do...even if those dreams were different now than they were before. "But I still can't just let him kill himself!" Weren't they all the same? Didn't they all have dreams to fulfil? Even though his dreams had changed, her dreams were still the same. She still wanted to save him, to protect him from the darkness that raged within him. Because she had the same darkness within herself, and it weighed her so heavily that she could no longer walk on water. Her soul was too dense with the dead. Her body was too dense with guilt. "I can't let him go!"

Sasori collapsed to the ground as Sakura released her hold on his body. He reached out and grabbed sanity with both hands as cold black strips of torment lashed across his chest, cutting through him with each burst of emotion. His eyes leaked pain to the ground as Sakura's heart overflowed into his chest. Slowly, she was freezing to stone. Slowly, she was dying.

"Aitsume!"

"He can't leave," Sakura said as she wiped her eyes with her hands. She had tried to piece together the heart broken by Sasuke long ago. The shards still sat broken at the bottom of her chest, but it had never felt broken until that moment. He had stomped so hard on those pieces of her soul that it could never be pieced together again. No amount of glue could hold together a powder so fine.

And it was another moment before Sakura realized that Sasori had vanished, but by then, it was too late. He was too far away to hear her calling for him. She no longer felt his presence. "Sasori?" She couldn't reach his mind anymore.

Kakashi held back the pain of hearing her say that word. Sasori. This wasn't the time for her to think about Sasori. "Sakura, he said slowly as he walked into the garden, his face fixed on her confused expression. He resisted the urge to hold her and drag her home. This horrible place was the source of too many nightmares, wretched phantoms that only weighed on her hands, sitting on her chest until she could no longer breathe. He just wanted to get her away from here. "Let's go home." And he allowed himself to take her hand.

"Yes," the girl said as her eyes closed calmly, as she allowed Kakashi to lead her away. Somehow, she was dealing with this situation better than she had thought she should. But what was another ghost holding her hand? Even if she should kill another man, it couldn't possibly weigh as heavily as Sasuke's ghost, as the phantom that haunted her from this house, this room filled with the stench of blood, the room reddened with the blood of her beloved Sasuke. "Let's go, Kakashi-sensei."

Standing on the edge of insanity was a difficult thing to do. Slowly, very carefully, she was walking along that fine ledge. And soon, she knew she would fall.

**End Chapter 9**

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Fire's English tidbits for those who care:

Active voice. Part two of voice continuing from last chapter. This is exciting! Active voice is simpler than passive voice, and I'm sure that everyone already knows how to use it. It is when the subject is the doer of the action. So, continuing the example from last chapter, "Naruto ate the ramen." This is active voice. The subject, "Naruto" is the one doing the action. This is as opposed to "The ramen was eaten," from the last example where the subject, "ramen" is acted upon. The person doing the action remains unknown. Where would you use this? I primarily use this for fight scenes. In conjunction with short sentences, it provides a sense of speed and urgency. Using the passive voice in fight scenes can become confusing, although they can be used for suspense in a fight. Other than that, the majority of your sentences in a story should be in active voice. Make sure when editing. It keeps the story clear and straightforward.

Fire's babbling:

Fire: Originally, this section would have only been a few hundred words over 2000, but after the edit, it grew to over 4000. – –;; If I had kept this chapter with the sections I removed to create the new chapter, this chapter would have easily been over 10 000 long, without A/N. I thought that was too long.

Kisame: Hm…that's very dense for something so short.

Fire: I know. (sighs)

Sasuke: Total words in this chapter, 4138.

Fire: I was wondering if anyone would like a total of how many words you've read so far. If you want to know, I'll send you the totals without A/N. At the end of this series, the books will reach a total of over 2MB, that's larger than a floppy disk. Um…1MB is 1000KB, and 1KB is 1000 bytes.

Kisame: I don't think anyone wants to hear your computer talk.

Fire: Waah! Gomen nasai! I know I'm boring you!

Sasuke: I'm running to Akatsuki.

Naruto: To bring me back! ;; Sasuke's crazy.

Deidara: I'll be appearing next—

Fire: The chapter after the next one actually. So wait two weeks.

Deidara: But you said—

Fire: I added an extra chapter so that they won't be too long when I edit.

Deidara: …

Sasori: Are you going to make Fire a torigata nendo now?

Deidara: Yes. (pulls out kibaku nendo)

Kisame: Use this. (hands Deidara regular, non-explosive nendo)

Deidara: …

Kisame: So you can't blow up Fire.

Deidara: I'm not using this!

Fire: Anyway, it seems as if I'll never get my clay bird.

Deidara: Not unless I make it with my kibaku nendo!

Fire: Anyway, please review and tell me what you think. I know that my emotions suck, so don't complain about that. I was trying to find a quiet place to proofread since I usually do it in my mom's room, but she won't let me in there since she thinks it's infested with bugs. (grabs Shino) Shino! Do something!

Shino: What do you want me to do?

Fire: Get rid of the bugs so that I can proofread! These 5000 to 10 000 words usually only take eight hours! It took me three days to do this!

Kisame: Fire is having another breakdown. Send us your good thoughts for a speedy recovery and we'll be back next week.

Sasuke: Ja.

Sasori: And vote for me!

Sakura: No! Vote for…um…Sasuke-kun!

Sasuke: I love Naruto!

Naruto: (hugs ramen) I love ramen!

Sasuke: No! You love me!

Fire: (still shaking Shino) Get rid of the bugs!

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	11. Ten: Confession

Sasuke: Before Fire gets here… (glares at Tobi)

Tobi: (reluctantly hands the review window to Sasuke) Are you sure this is okay? Fire likes to address the reviews.

Kisame: (shouting as he walks into the window with Fire) We're here!

Fire: What are you doing with my review window?

Sasuke: (holding the review window) This? (holds it out) I was…um…getting it for you!

Fire: Yay! (grabs the window) But before I get to that—

Sasuke: I knew it! You _have_ to say something extra!

Fire: But I want to.

Kisame: Just say it and continue with the reviews.

Fire: Kisame's being so nice!

Kisame: I killed someone for breakfast. And that wasn't what you were going to say!

Fire: Everyone read chapter 306 by now hopefully. That means you should know how Sasuke really looks in my story. Anyone who thinks Sakura's being an idiot… (holds up a hand) …which includes me, can now understand her a little better.

Sakura: (screaming like a fangirl) Sasuke-kun!

Fire: And this is the same reason why he still has so many fangirls in Konoha even though he had returned so recently from Oto. ;;; Um…that was in the first book, _Wait for Me: Leaving_.

Sasuke: You're evil.

Fire: Other than that news, this is the third extra chapter in this story, so if you take the number, 10, and subtract 2, that's the number this chapter would be if the other two chapters were added. In other words, the last chapter should have been 7, and the next chapter should be 8. --;; I add a lot of stuff when I edit, so this will be a very, very long story. It's just really complicated, so I apologize if you think it's long. I think so too.

Deidara: And I finally appear! (glares at Fire) I'm appearing in this story!

Fire: Did you think I was going to add another long chapter between your appearance and the chapters before?

Deidara: You already added two other chapters, yeah.

Fire: ;; Deidara's appearing in this chapter.

Sasuke: But he doesn't officially appear until the chapter after this.

Fire: Um…

Sasuke: Did you change the story again?

Fire: I thought it would be good foil.

Sasuke: …

Kisame: That means yes.

Sasuke: I'm not an idiot! And you! (glares at Fire) I'm your cowriter! You shouldn't be changing things without my permission! (glares at Blowkiss-san) And I can act however I want! I'm not cranky!

Fire: Blowkiss-san didn't say that at all. You're just being a jerk.

Sasuke: …

Sasori: He was always like this.

Fire: First, I want to make a comment on the metaphor surrounding Sakura's "shattered heart." That was a reference to the first book, _Wait for Me: Leaving_ where Sasuke broke Sakura's heart—metaphorically—when she found out that he was in love with Naruto. Sasori didn't stab her, Soda-san. I'm sorry for the confusion.

Sasori: And more votes for me!

Sakura: I'm not insane!

Sasuke: The one for Kakashi cancels out the vote for you, Sasori.

Sasori: …

Deidara: And keep voting for me, Blowkiss-san! Ignore the brat, yeah!

Fire: Um…I already said that there was going to be DeiSaku in this already, right?

Deidara: But no one wants me to be with Sakura!

Sakura: Maybe it's because you're a feminine freak!

Deidara: I _know_ you didn't just call me a girl!

Sasori: She did.

Deidara: I'll kill you, kuso kunoichi!

Sakura: I'm not a kunoichi anymore, girl!

Fire: Um…anyway, on…with…the…story?

Tobi: (pulls chapter 10 out of the review bag and sticks it onto the screen) …

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**Chapter 10: Confession**

'_**T**he shock was too much. The stone shell protecting my heart has shattered. I can't do it anymore. Please, don't hate me, but I still can't let you go. I can't watch you leave and do nothing. Gomen. I've tried, but I'm not like that. So please, listen to me. Come with me. This pain... I can make this pain go away. Just let me try, because now, I am human again. Because if you say no, I will bleed.'_

**S**asori was already far from the village when the thought hit him. He didn't have to do this. Sakura hadn't ordered him to go. The Uchiha kid could just kill himself for all he cared! _'He should die!'_ There would be one less person to hurt Sakura. _'Kuso! I want to kill him!'_ But the pain sweeping through his body held him back. This was pain far worse than any he would have wished on his worst enemy. This was worse than tearing off the skin of unknown strangers while they were still alive.

But selfishness sat in his chest, and he couldn't ignore it. He wanted to be the one to erase Sakura's memory of him. He wanted to be the one to kill him. He still wanted to be the one to kill him. But more important than that, he couldn't let Akatsuki have someone like Uchiha Sasuke.

Even though Akatsuki would never accept a kid like Sasuke, a younger Itachi had joined them. And Sasuke had already killed two members of their organization. _'Ex-organization!'_ He reminded himself again. He wasn't in Akatsuki anymore. He had been a part of that organization for over twenty years. He knew what they were capable of, what their goals were. He knew the organization better than most members of the organization.

That was why he had to stop Sasuke.

Even if he wasn't going to kill him–which he was–he would still stop him. Sasuke thought wrong. Akatsuki didn't have a tensei technique that could bring someone like Naruto back. There was nothing that could bring a jinchuuriki back. If they had a technique like that, they would have used it already. They wouldn't have allowed death to stop their plans.

Orochimaru's Edo Tensei was one of the only tensei techniques in the organization, and it was practically the strongest one among them. Only Orochimaru was obsessed enough with life, death and immortality to have such a large arsenal of tensei abilities.

And Sasuke already knew Edo Tensei.

There was nothing they could do for Sasuke. There were no medic-nin in Akatsuki, no one as adept as Sakura or his grandmother. They had nothing that could completely bring back the dead, at least nothing like a jinchuuriki.

There was nothing for Sasuke there.

But Sasori wasn't going to let him discover it. He was going to kill him before then.

**A**s soon as Sakura opened the front door to her home, Kakashi froze under Sakura's father's hard stare. Killer intent loomed visibly in the air, hovering around the pink-haired girl's parents so thickly that Kakashi had to cut through it with a kunai before walking into the house.

But Sakura didn't notice anything. "I'm going to my room," her voice croaked with the weariness of old age as she dragged herself up the stairs.

Sakura's parents didn't respond. Their eyes and their attention remained fixed on the grey-haired jounin. "Kakashi," Sakura's father said as he gestured to the living room. "Come in for a moment." The pleasant words holding the tinge of amicability hid pure threat. If he didn't come in, they were going to drag him in. Kakashi couldn't say no.

"O-okay," the grey-haired man stuttered uncertainly as he slowly walked into the other room, his uncovered eye carefully watching the man. "Nan desu?" He was ready to shunshin out of that room at any moment. Every hair on his body stood in alarm for an attack. The rumour still hung in the air.

"Sit."

Kakashi sat.

"We're going to be direct," Sakura's mother began slowly. She had taken the seat at his side. And he hadn't even noticed!

"We want you to stay away from our daughter!" Sakura's father yelled angrily.

Kakashi stared in surprise, not sure if he should leave now or not. Anger was difficult to predict. The man could grab him and stab him in the heart with a kunai...or cry in useless misery.

"You understand why, don't you?" The woman at his side was ridiculously calm in spite of the angry man sitting across from them, but Kakashi could still sense the desire to kill him emanating

from her. She sounded calm, but if he said the wrong thing, she would slit his throat without blinking.

"Um..." Kakashi actually had no idea why they were yelling at him. It couldn't possibly be because of the rumour. If it was only that, they would have directly asked him about it instead of jumping to conclusions. They were reasonable people. He knew they were reasonable people!

"You sent her to the hospital, bakemono!" Sakura's father yelled. "You have no right to walk with her in broad daylight! We know what you were doing to her!"

Kakashi's body pressed into the couch at the outburst, his mind pounding with the revelation. _'They think...'_ The grey-haired jounin almost didn't know what to do. He couldn't think of what he could say to straighten this misunderstanding. They wouldn't believe him! "It...it's not what you think!" He could only spout those frantic words like a frightened teenage boy. "I...I didn't do it!"

He was right. They didn't believe him.

"I tried to disbelieve it when Ino-chan came running, but..." Sakura's mother sighed at the memory.

_Ino stared at the puppetmaster, but he wasn't relenting. "Are you sure?" She couldn't believe something like that. "Sakura HAS been spending a lot of time with Kakashi-sensei these days, but there's really nothing wrong with it."_

_Sasori smiled over an orange lily. "Why would I lie to you about something like this?"_

"_Lots of reasons," Ino said as she grabbed the flower away from Sasori. "Now go away. Don't you have something else to do?"_

_Sasori took a stalk of foxglove from its pot. "No. I have absolutely nothing to do since Sakura's with Kakashi as we speak." _

_And Ino's mind couldn't stop dwelling on those words. Sakura was in the hospital. Alone. With Kakashi. In her room. "Arrgh! Don't spread such horrible rumours!"_

"_But you know why she's in the hospital, right?" Sasori's tone was completely unwavering, killing the blond kunoichi with curiosity. "Oh, but Hokage-sama IS keeping it from leaving the hospital. Do you want me to tell you?"_

_Ino looked shakily away, as if not looking at the bearer of such tempting news could kill the curiosity stabbing at her mind and pulling on her heart, or encourage her shaking determination to lock the doors to her urgent questions. "N-no!" But she couldn't stop herself. She wanted to know! She wanted to know what it was!_

"_You're lying," Sasori accused as he put the flower into's its pot again. "But since you're a good friend of Sakura's..." ...and she was a gossip-monger... "...I'll tell you. Kakashi has been forcing Sakura to do a lot of ecchi things with him, and he went too far a few days ago." Sasori's voice was completely nonchalant. "If you don't believe me..." He shrugged, as if it was nothing if she disbelieved him. "...you can check her hospital records. The truth is the truth, no matter how you look at it."_

_Ino was shaking her head, even as Sasori left. She refused to believe him. But her mind kept remembering his words, and the confidence with which he had said them. _

_She had to look at Sakura's hospital record!_

Sakura's mother held up the copies of the hospital records. If they demanded it, as Sakura's parents, the hospital couldn't keep her condition secret from them. "...the proof is right here," Sakura's mother said, her voice still calm even though her husband was fuming across from them. It was the perfect trap. Sakura's mother was there to hold him if he tried to escape, and Sakura's father was sitting near the door, across from Kakashi, ready to kill him if he tried anything. "I thought you had more sense, Kakashi-kun. She's supposed to be your student."

"Teme-wo korosu!"

"I _said_ I didn't do it!" Kakashi wasn't even sure if his words were reaching the man. Blind anger covered his face. "It was only an accident!"

"But accidents like that don't happen easily, do they, Kakashi-kun?" Sakura's mother looked at Kakashi, her eyes darkening with threats only a woman could think of. "I don't have to tell you what we'd do if you do something like that again, right, Kakashi-kun?"

The masked shinobi inched covertly away from the woman. She was actually scarier than her husband. "Uh...no." He wasn't admitting that he did something like _that_ to Sakura, but he didn't want them to misunderstand him either. Arguing with them now would only make things worse, and trying to explain anything to them wouldn't help either. _'But it wasn't me!'_ And he couldn't even deny it to this woman. She wasn't just a regular woman. She was a mother! There was no telling what a mother would do.

A nukenin would have been easier to deal with.

"Yokata," the woman said with a bright smile, the venom filling her expression a moment before melting away. "Unless it's absolutely necessary, stay away from Sakura, Kakashi-kun."

'_Explain it to her!'_ Kakashi's mind yelled, but he couldn't find the words. He couldn't even begin to explain the situation to Sakura's parents. He could only nod before rushing out of the house. He didn't care if he _could_ kill them with a single look from his sharingan. Parents were still scary.

**W**ithin her empty bedroom, Sakura stared at the wall, listening to the faint voices muffled behind her door. She could hear her parents' misleading thoughts, even though she couldn't hear their words. They thought it was Kakashi's fault, but it wasn't. They were only believing the rumour buzzing outside her window.

The pink-haired girl turned, her eyes falling onto the small plastic container of pills atop her desk. She had taken them secretly from the hospital for the queasiness in her stomach, but she already knew that it wasn't going to fade away anytime soon. She was a medic-nin. She knew what was wrong with her body.

She stared at the blank white label as her mind emptied completely. With leaden movement, she reached beneath her pillow and pulled the bright red rag into her arms. She hugged it tightly, burying her face in the comforting memories of the past. As long as she had this, she could pretend that nothing out of the ordinary was happening. As long as she still had this red dress, nothing was going wrong. The past would still be intact. Sasuke was still brooding over his brother, and Naruto was sitting somewhere, eating ramen. None of the horrible things that had happened in the past three years had happened.

As long as she was still holding this red dress, her hands wouldn't move to kill the cause of her nausea. The green glow of Shosen Jutsu would fade from her hands because...

Sakura sat up, her hands wound tightly around the red cloth, distorting the white circle that still remained intact against the tattered fabric. She couldn't do it! She couldn't allow herself to do it without a second thought! She couldn't. She couldn't because...

"I still love him." The pink-haired girl curled over the wretched dress, unable to think of anything else to do. She couldn't even bring herself to believe her own condition yet, much less tell anyone about it. _'I still love Sasuke-kun.'_

That was why she couldn't let him die again!

Sasori probably knew. The puppetmaster was like a mirror reflecting all her emotions back to her. He had already gone after Sasuke...because that was what she wanted. She wanted to stop him. She didn't want him to go to Akatsuki. _'Sasuke-kun...'_ She really couldn't forget about him...even if he had... Even if he had...

Sakura shook her head clear of the memories. That was awhile ago. She should forget about it. It was a mistake. That was all. She should forget.

'_That was only a dream. It never happened!'_

Sakura's eyes snapped open as her mind cleared. Sasori was going to kill him. Sasori would kill Sasuke to stop him for her. Even if she wanted to stop him, even if she wanted to keep him away from Akatsuki, she had never ordered Sasori to get him.

Sasuke was perfect for his next hitokugutsu. He even had the sharingan.

The pink-haired girl walked to her closet and pulled the door open. Inside, the mementos of the past looked back at her. Her shuriken pouches. She hadn't worn them since she returned to Konoha two months ago, since she quit the life of a shinobi.

With swift hands–so that she wouldn't have too much time to think about it, or time to regret these actions–she snatched the pouches from the hanger. She had to hurry. Her parents would finish their "lecture" soon. They would notice if she did this after they finished.

'_Stealth. Remember. The first rule of being a shinobi.'_ Sakura walked onto her balcony, the cool air of early evening wrapping tightly around her as chakra gathered at her feet and she leapt onto the roof across her house. She took a deep breath before continuing away. She didn't know what to say to Sasuke to convince him to return, but she would think of something on the way there.

**F**rom the entrance of the Haruno household, Kakashi stared defeatedly after the pink-haired figure as she vanished. She hadn't even noticed his presence. _'I should have known,'_ he thought before following after her. He already knew what she was thinking. He just didn't think that she would actually try following Sasuke to Akatsuki.

**T**he faces of the other Akatsuki members stared irritatedly back at Zetsu, but he didn't care. He had called this emergency meeting for a good reason, and they were going to listen to him. "Well?" He had already told them that it was an _emergency,_ but their voices were still annoyed. "What is it?" They didn't like being pulled into meetings when they could be doing something more constructive with their chakra, like collecting new techniques and killing hunter-nin.

"Uchiha Sasuke is headed in our direction," Zetsu said blandly. They hadn't heard him the first time at all.

"Why should we care?" The tall shadow looming over them was still irritated. He just didn't see why they all had to meet just because of something like that. "Only you and Tobi are here."

"If he brought the Kyuubi back with Edo Tensei, he could give him to us without a problem," Zetsu said, drawing the sudden interest of the other members. The tense atmosphere slowly loosened, but the leader still looked bored.

"Should we recall Deidara? He's already on his way to Konoha."

"No! We still have to deal with Sasori! We should deal with Sasori first!"

"Deidara should be here for the meeting, even if he's travelling, teme!"

"But we really should eliminate Sasori as soon as possible. We don't want another problem like we had with Orochimaru."

"Besides, Sasori already captured his jinchuuriki. I don't care if he dies now."

"No," the leader said, effectively locking all their voices away with just the one anger-stifled word. Everyone was on edge since Tobi's failed mission. It had ruined everyone's mood. "Deidara doesn't have to return." He wasn't going to risk another failed mission. The Uchiha may still turn back. He wasn't going to believe he was coming until they had the jinchuuriki physically in their hands.

"Ah, gomen, gomen. I was trying to find a safe place to stop, yeah," Deidara said as his shadowy projection appeared amongst the group. "What are you talking about?"

"We have someone foolish enough to bring a jinchuuriki to us. It should only be fitting that someone wait for him, Zetsu," the leader said sternly, ignoring Deidara's appearance as he faded into the air.

"Of course," Zetsu said as the other shadows vanished.

"I don't have to come back, yeah?" Deidara looked at Zetsu.

"No. Continue with the plan."

As Deidara vanished with an affirmative nod, Zetsu sank into the ground. He didn't know what the leader was planning, but it was going to be a long wait before Uchiha Sasuke arrived.

**T**he village was quickly falling behind her, fading into the mass of leaves surrounding it from all sides, but Sakura hadn't gone too far when her body froze. Her limbs refused to obey her orders even though there was nothing physically wrong. "Kanashibari?" She had thought no one had seen her leave.

"Sakura, what are you doing?" Kakashi's voice came from behind her. He had followed her beyond the village boundaries, beyond the gates of Konoha. He almost thought she only wanted a walk...until he saw her searching for signs of Sasuke and Sasori. "You're going to get yourself killed."

Sakura took in a deep breath as her limbs relaxed. What _was _she doing? She could barely remember. But she didn't have to answer him. Her legs ran forwards, chakra speeding her movements.

She had to get to Sasuke. She had to stop him! She can't let him kill himself!

She had to get to Sasori. She had to stop him as well. She can't let him kill Sasuke!

But Kakashi already knew what was going through her mind. After years of being her sensei, he knew her mind better than she could imagine. "Sakura," he said, his arm hooking her body before she could run forwards. "Sasori already went. He'll bring him back." As much as he wanted to tell her otherwise, he knew that it was the truth. The Suna-nin would automatically feel what she wanted, and do it. That was what he was doing right now, even if he wanted to kill Sasuke.

"Sasori's going to kill him!" Sakura shouted, annoyed. Even though she understood what her sensei was saying, deep down inside, that was what she believed. She knew she was right. Sasori was still Sasori. He was still a nukenin and a murderer. He would kill Sasuke without a second thought.

He had gone to Sasuke's house just to kill him. That was only half a day ago! She could just imagine what kind of horrible things Sasori was doing to Sasuke at that moment!

"Sakura!" Kakashi shouted, his grip tightening as she tried to pull her arm away. She wasn't listening at all. "I can't let you go!" His uncovered eye stared wide with desperation.

And for a moment, Sakura stopped long enough to actually hear him. _'He...can't let me go?'_ For a moment, she thought she had heard him wrong. "Kakashi-sensei..." That didn't sound right. It almost sounded like he didn't have a choice.

Sakura turned her eyes toward Kakashi, all thoughts of Sasuke evaporating into the air as the faded image of her sensei pushed itself forwards. She had never noticed it before. These emotions. Panic. Desperation. Anxiety. These emotions were not like Kakashi-sensei at all!

"Sensei?" Sakura pulled her arm forcefully away as his grip tightened. Her wrist throbbed, the memory of his hand still vivid on her skin. "Wh–"

Fear.

Kakashi stared at his student. His heart pounded urgently in his head, calling out the rhythm of his self-destruction. "I just can't...let you go, Sakura." His voice was slow and deliberate, even though the words were filled with apprehension, as if they would vanish if she heard them.

The grey-haired jounin's hands opened and closed convulsively. His palms still remembered the feel of her skin, and he wanted to touch her again. _'It's not right!'_ He didn't want to feel this way. _'I'm her sensei!'_ He was fourteen years her senior!

"You forget," Sakura said confidently as she turned towards the endless stretch of trees again. Sasuke shouldn't be too far. She could still catch him if she hurried. "I'm Tsunade-shishou's apprentice." She guessed that he would be worried about her. She was his student. Of course he would be worried about her. "I'll be–"

"That's not it!" Kakashi grabbed the girl by the arm, swinging her around before she could disappear from his side. "Even if you are stronger now, I can't let you go!"

"Stop worrying about me, Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura fumed annoyedly, pulling her arms out of the jounin's grasp. She wasn't a weak medic-nin like Rin. She didn't need Kakashi to protect her. "Don't confuse me with Rin-sa–"

"I'm not confusing you with Rin! I don't like Rin! I like Sakura!"

In that moment, all the blood drained from Sakura's body and slithered away to hide as far away from Kakashi as it possibly could. Under rocks, in the shadows, covering its head, cowering at the bottom of unreachable chasms...Sakura really wanted to be anywhere but there. She didn't want to hear that! That wasn't what she was thinking!

And Kakashi didn't want her to know.

Slowly, the heaviness in his chest had grown, and slowly, it had seeped out. Now Sakura could see it. He couldn't deny it now that he had said it aloud. "I...I'm..." He couldn't say it. He was her sensei. This was forbidden!

"No. It's okay," Sakura said slowly, pulling herself away from the grey-haired man. All thoughts of Sasuke had vanished. The trail was already cold. "It's fine." She forced a smile for the jounin as she backed toward the village. "I'm just...going to go home." She turned with a quick wave of her hand. "I'll see you later, Kakashi-sensei!"

She didn't hesitate to run back.

Kakashi watched the girl's form disappear into the gently swaying leaves. _'See you later?'_ No. He knew he probably wouldn't see her again.

**End Chapter 10**

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Fire's English tidbits for those who care:

Here's an interesting fact. The term "and etc" is incorrect in writing. The "and" is unnecessary since etc is an abbreviation for "et cetera" which is Latin for "and the rest." Saying "and etc" would be like saying "and and the rest." How ridiculous is that!

Fire's babbling:

Fire: Okay, you're all probably wondering why I used Orange Lily and Foxglove, right? Right?

Ino: No one cares.

Fire: (hugs Kisame) No one cares! Waah!

Kisame: Stop wailing!

Ino: If anyone wants the meanings, I—

Sasori: I'd be happy to explain it to you.

Ino: – – ;; I'll handle that, Sasori-san.

Sasori: I know the meanings. You…go away!

Ino: …

Fire: Anyway, the storyline complicates in the upcoming chapters. Next chapter, Deidara—

Deidara: I finally arrive, yeah!

Fire: – – ;; Why won't you let me talk?

Deidara: Now review, yeah? I want to hear more votes for me!

Sasuke: Or votes for Kakashi. (thoughtful) Then I'd get more chances to torture him! (evil Orochimaru-like laugh)

Sasori: I'll win anyway. You two should just stop trying.

Fire: Yes, review and give me your opinions on my story so far. Um…you don't have to vote if you don't want to.

Sasori: I said I'd win!

Fire: So, ja. (hides behind Kisame so that Sasori couldn't scream at Fire)

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	12. Eleven: Foes and Allies

Sasuke: I know this _doesn't_ say I have PMS!

Sasori: (nodding) Yes it does.

Deidara: (laughing) It's right there! (points at the review and continues laughing) PMS!

Fire: Tobi! I'm supposed to get the reviews!

Tobi: But Sasuke-san threatened me!

Sasori: And there's another vote for me! (waving the review window in the air)

Sakura: Are you kidding me?

Sasori: You want to read it?

Sakura: …

Deidara: She doesn't want to see something ridiculous like that! And… (reaches into his clay pouch and pulls out a nicely wrapped box) Something for Aurora-san!

Kisame: I don't think Aurora-san wants something made with C3! – – ;;

Deidara: But—

Sasori: The review says something that won't blow up the entire town.

Deidara: But it's so beautiful, yeah! Aurora-san said I'm the best character in the Naruto series!

Sakura: It's a lie. And I'd never want a bird made with any of your clay!

Fire: Urusai! Reviews!

Sasuke: Did we ever listen to you?

Fire: You did…once.

Sasuke: That's because—

Naruto: I want to read the rest of the story!

Fire: (hugs Naruto) Naruto…I'm so happy you're here! At least someone wants to read it!

Naruto: I'm coming back in this chapter, ne?

Fire: …

Sasuke: No.

Naruto: But why?

Sasuke: (agitatedly) Proper plot development.

Fire: And remember, **_this_** also means Samehada's talking, or Kyuubi, or Shuukaku. – – ;; I hope I'm not missing anyone.

Sasuke: In other words, hidden speech that not everyone can hear. It's standard for this series. If you forget anything, go to chapter 3 for the legend. I'm not explaining anything to you amnesiacs!

Fire: Sasuke! They don't have amnesia!

Naruto: …? Is that was an amnesiac is?

Fire: (sighs) Okay, continue with the reviews.

Tobi: – – ;;

Sasuke: Don't give that to Fire!

Fire: Hmm? Something for me? (grabs the review window from Tobi)

Sasuke: (sighs) Too late.

Fire: Loss-san says that the story's getting better and better. It's really dramatic!

Naruto: Stories without the hero aren't good. I'm not back yet, so the story sucks!

Sasuke: (nods in agreement) SasuNaru stories with either one or both of us dead? Fire was high when this series was written.

Fire: You're the cowriter, Sasuke!

Sasuke: I wasn't in a sane state. (glares at Fire) You spearheaded this project! It says that it's a Fire project at the top of each story!

Kisame: (nodding) He's right.

Tobi: … (hands Fire another review)

Deidara: I'm finally going to appear! For real!

Fire: Yes. Please don't kill me for taking so long. (cowers behind Kisame)

Sasori: And I made Forbidden-san vote for me! Kakashi, I stole another one of your fans! Soon, I'll destroy you!

Sakura: What does stealing his fans have to do with killing Kakashi-sensei?

Sasori: And women are the most annoying things on this planet!

Sakura: We're not things!

Fire: Um…Sasori's very, very chauvinistic. I don't think you can change his mind, Forbidden-san. And Ino…

Ino?

Fire: I think Soda-san wants you to stop being so much like yourself. That rumour was only a rumour.

Ino: But look at the proof! (holds up the medical reports) This is solid evidence! (waves the documents in her hand) Kakashi-sensei's a monster!

Fire: – – ;; Um…I guess we should move on before Ino spreads more rumours.

Tobi: (pulls Chapter 11 onto the screen) …

---------------------------

Warning: This chapter of _Wait for Me: Searching_ contains spoilers up to and including chapter 308 of the Naruto manga. If you haven't read it, go and read it before reading this. Otherwise I cannot be responsible for fighting styles and abilities in this story.

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**Chapter 11: Foes and Allies**

'_**N**othing bad can happen. Nothing bad is happening. Nothing! I won't listen. I won't see. Because if I look, the truth will surely strike me down. There is no future for us. I know this, but please hold back the world for me. Hold it back a little longer so that I can still dream of you as I did before everything fell out of our hands, and I had to wake up. Just a little longer, let me pretend you are still mine.'_

**T**rees rushed pass both sides of the great clay bird as Deidara's fingers adjusted the rangefinder over his left eye again. He had Uchiha Sasuke captured in his lens, and he wasn't going to let the boy get away without a fight. _'This should get his attention, yeah,'_ Deidara thought as his hand lifted subconsciously to release a torigata nendo into the air. The small bird flew around him in a momentary circle before shooting through foliage at its dark-haired target.

Brown clouds of dust, wood chips and leaves filled the air with the explosion.

'_Got him!'_

The bird cut forwards before Deidara propelled himself from the clay back to the body lying on the ground. But as he turned it over, there was no flesh or face to greet him. It was...

Deidara tossed the clothed log aside and pushed himself away in time to avoid a barrage of kunai. The blond man turned, one eye magnifying the figure to unnatural proportions as his uncovered eye focussed on the expressionless face above him. _'Kuso.'_ He knew that expression. It was Itachi's expression, a face that spoke of his indomitable superiority. He hated that face.

"You..." Sasuke narrowed his red eyes at the Iwa-nin. "I was looking for you." He wanted Akatsuki to help him. The best way to get their attention was to kill another member of the organization. Itachi and Kisame were enough, but he wasn't against a buffer.

Deidara immediately saw that desire within the Uchiha. He knew that Itachi's younger brother would fight him. The blond man had no illusions about Sasuke coming peacefully.

"Hn."

The huge clay bird drilled through the trees at Sasuke, grazing across his back before he vanished with the light sound of rustling leaves. He had heard it flying through the trees, heard the foliage falling. But he was faster.

"Useless." He smashed Deidara aside. "Tell me where they are!" He knew that someone had to be nearby. Deidara wouldn't be in the middle of the forest alone. They always travelled in pairs. "I know–"

The jibaku bunshin exploded as Sasuke leapt back to narrowly avoid it. But the force of the explosion sent him flying backwards. No guard in his arsenal could protect him from the shockwave cutting through his body and blasting him through trees.

"As soon as we heard you were coming, Zetsu brought information about your fighting abilities, yeah," Deidara's disembodied voice said from all around the dark-haired shinobi. "Your fight in Kawa no Kuni with the jinchuuriki and his team was a good source of information." The blond man stopped in front of red eyes he knew too well. Itachi always stared with those same soulless red eyes.

'_Chidori nagashi!'_ Lightning flew from Sasuke's momentarily paralysed body, twining around him as easily as summoned snakes, but the blond Iwa-nin was still unaffected. He only stood, his mouth tweaked in a smile.

And Sasuke understood that like Itachi, the genius of Iwagakure was going to get through this guard.

_The dark-haired shinobi leapt back, managing to avoid the huge sword hurling for his head. He knew that his brother was close. Itachi had to be close. Kisame was right in front of him!_

_Sasuke's hand swung forwards, sending his Kusanagi at the blue man's arms. 'He can't fight if he has no arms!'_

_But Kisame saw it coming. He pulled his arm back before the Kusanagi could strike, grinding the edge of his huge sword across the thinner blade. Sasuke glared as Samehada bit down, clamping tightly to the fine metal._

'_Chidori nagashi!'_

_Sasuke gripped tightly to his Kusanagi as lightning filled his body. With determined force, he wrenched his sword free, spiralling it around to slice through Samehada, sending severed scales flying through the air. _

_And spiralling his sword through Kisame._

_The blue man was falling before he knew what was happening. Lightning rushed through his body, the deep cut across his chest, the blood filling his lungs, and then, he was staring at the red grass. _

_The dark-haired chuunin nudged the bleeding body with his foot for a moment before deciding to move on. He didn't have time to spend with a dying man. He had Itachi to fight._

_But he wasn't even out of sight before Itachi rammed him against a tree. Itachi had found him. Of course he was nearby._

_Itachi's red eyes fell on his deceased partner for a moment before pressing forwards, crushing his brother against the trees. The elder Uchiha stared into his brother's sharingan. 'Tsukiyomi!'_

"_That's not going to work." Sasuke grinned at his brother. His sharingan had developed while his brother was away. It wasn't a Mangekyou, but his brother's eyes no longer had any effect on him._

"_Souka." Itachi flew back as lightning lashed at him. "Hm..." His brother had gotten stronger since the last time he saw him._

_But that was expected. He couldn't expect Sasuke to stay the weak little kid he knew long ago. However..._

"_You're still weak." Itachi lunged directly at Sasuke, pressing against his brother with his confidence._

_Sasuke's chidori faltered as his brother rushed at him. His mind focussed completely on the soulless eyes in that emotionless face, and for a moment, it resisted all thought. He couldn't think of anything. There wasn't even the idea of defence as Itachi's arm smashed against his ribs, sending him flying through a tree. All there was, was the memory of that day in Konoha, that day on the Uchiha estate, that day when he walked into the empty house and saw his elder brother standing over their parents' bloody bodies. _

_His mind was still shaking as Itachi walked toward him, still emotionless and cold as he looked at the younger shinobi. "You are still too weak!" Itachi's voice tinged with anger as his red eyes looked down at Sasuke. "You expect to–" He stepped back as lightning snapped at him. Sasuke wasn't going to listen to him anymore. His words weren't going to affect him any longer._

_The Kusanagi flew at Itachi, raging in frustration as the elder Uchiha stepped out of its path. 'Where is he?' Sasuke's red eyes looked past the loops of electricity hanging around his body, to the trees around him. His brother had to be there somewhere. 'He has to be somewhere!' _

_Then a barrage of kunai flew at him._

_Sasuke whipped around. 'There!' Itachi was right behind him!_

_And he was flying backwards, his jaw throbbing at the impact of his brother's arm against his chin._

'_How?' His guard was flawless. _

_But as he fell, his eyes caught against the black kunai embedded in the ground. The metal wires that his brother carried, that was identical to the ones in his kunai pouch, hung from the kunai, looped around the lower branches around him. _

'_Of course.' Metal conducted electricity. He had grounded the kunai to draw the lightning away from him._

_As he fell, Sasuke felt the cursed seal break out of its prison of Fuuja Houin, spread from his shoulder across his skin. He was running out of chakra. He couldn't use Chidori Nagashi anymore. That would deteriorate his body further. _

_But Itachi caught Sasuke's arm before he could think of using the new chakra infusing his body. The snap of breaking bone filled the air as Itachi crushed through years of useless nutrition. His brother wasn't going to defeat him!_

_Sasuke wrenched himself away, his body aching with new pain as Itachi dug across his other arm with a kunai. The black handle left Itachi's hand, the blade embedded in the flesh falling to the ground as the fuuma shuriken in Sasuke's hand flew awkwardly into the air. Sasuke could already see that it wasn't going to hit his brother where he was. If he wanted that attack to be useful, he would have to draw Itachi into the right position._

_But as he turned with his bleeding and broken arms back to his brother, Itachi had already fallen into a defensive position. It was going to be difficult. As Sasuke pulled a handful of shuriken from his shuriken pouch, Itachi leapt into the foliage above._

_Itachi was out of his sight, and he had used up a lot of his chakra on Chidori Nagashi. The fight couldn't last much longer._

"You think he didn't teach this to us, yeah?" Deidara said as he held up a kunai. The Uchiha was already sitting on the ground. He didn't even need the metal wires to attract the lightning. "Zetsu sees everything!" For once, he was glad that the Kusa-nin was everywhere.

The blond nukenin threw the kunai through the electric field, the blue ropes of lightning twisting around the black metal as the blade struck the ground.

"Kuso." Sasuke glared at the blond shinobi looking down at him. His body still vibrated with the force of the previous explosion. He could move, but it wasn't going to be enough to defend himself against this obviously angry man.

"I thought you were coming to join us." He looked down at Sasuke, a handful of clay in his hand. "What are fighting me for, yeah?" Deidara grabbed the dark-haired shinobi by the neck, his fingers digging painfully into the thick muscles wrapped around its dainty bones. "You want to die?"

Sasuke grabbed the man's arm, as if his weakening grip could stop him from crushing his neck.

'_Senei Jyashu!'_

Deidara stood, snakes coiled around his body, tightening with every passing moment. Shakily, his hands retreated from the unmoving white throat. With pounding eyes, the nukenin looked up, his blue eyes falling on his former partner. "Sasori no Danna?" The familiar form of a redheaded man he hadn't seen in a very long time looked down at him. Even as his partner, Sasori's true form was rare. "What brings you to Kawa no Kuni, yeah?" There wasn't even a hint of fear in his voice.

But Sasori didn't answer. He only frowned as his Sannin puppet pulled the unconscious Uchiha from the ground. He didn't like the idea of rescuing someone he had wanted to kill not long ago, but if he didn't do it, scaring Deidara would have been for nothing. And he didn't like doing something for nothing. Doing nothing were the kind of useless actions that made him wait. And he hated waiting!

So, he had rescued Sasuke instead. And that was all he came for. He wasn't going to answer Deidara's questions.

Sasori turned and walked away.

"Oi! I'm coming with you!" Deidara said quickly as the snakes continued tightening their grip around his body. They were going to constrict until he suffocated and died. But he wasn't going to let that happen. No matter what... "I left Akatsuki too, yeah!"

The puppetmaster ignored the blond man. It was another Akatsuki trick. They lied often. He wasn't going to listen to their lies. Especially when these lies would probably kill him. He could live with Sasuke dying, but he wasn't going to let Deidara–of all the other members of Akatsuki who could be there at that moment–kill him. "Shut up and die, Deidara." Sasori had been waiting a long time to say that to Deidara. Even though he was his partner, like most partners in Akatsuki, they had no real attachments to each other. It was simple. It was easy to kill him.

Especially when he could still recall their arguments about art easily in his mind.

"I'm not lying, yeah! I really left them, yeah!" Deidara called out as the kumogata nendo clamped onto the snakes, blowing off their heads before their bodies fell limply to the ground. Orochimaru's attacks weren't going to kill him. Even Sasori knew that. "I'm coming with you, Sasori-sama." He waited for Sasori to reply. Although Orochimaru couldn't kill him, if Sasori really tried, even in this unpredictable human body, he could hurt him, and probably kill him.

"I'm not your master. Do what you want." Sasori really didn't care. At that moment, his main priority was taking Sasuke back to the village. Sakura would probably be relieved that he didn't kill him. That was a comforting thought.

As for Deidara, he wasn't an immediate threat. He could even be telling the truth...as difficult to believe as that was. He could deal with Deidara later.

**T**he rescue was one week following Sasuke and another week returning to Konoha. In that time, Sasuke had managed to move in erratic patterns through Hi no Kuni's dense forests, resulting in a total of four days' extra travel. Sasori was irritated beyond words. His whole body wanted to rip the young shinobi apart, even as he dropped the dark-haired Uchiha onto the hard floor.

"What's wrong with this house, Sasori-sama?" Deidara looked around the room. The redness of its walls glowed with the stench of blood...really old blood. He never thought that he would come across a place like this in Konoha. "It should be used for target practice, not for living, yeah." He wouldn't mind blowing up a few walls in this house, just to get rid of the wretched thing.

"Don't destroy the house," Sasori said as he looked around the room. He was here only two weeks ago–the gash he had wrenched through the garden's walls still stood as if he had made it a moment ago–but he didn't notice the state of the rooms until now. From what Itachi was like, he had expected a neater house. In fact, he had expected Sasuke to be like Itachi...a neat freak. "I guess some things aren't genetic." There were unopened boxes standing in the most traffic laden areas of the room, but even though blood streaked every surface and the tatami mats were torn by countless kunai, the place still managed to look neat and together. _'I guess he really is a neat freak.'_ It wasn't as much of a mess as he had initially thought. If he didn't take a second look, he wouldn't have noticed.

The house was really messed up.

"Naruto..." Sasuke's voice came from the ground where he lay. He didn't even bother to move even though he could easily sit up. He was unharmed, and the shockwave that had paralysed him had passed long ago. "Where are you Naruto?" His mind was jumbled again as his sight walked into the garden where water continued to flow, the rhythmic thunk of the bamboo fountain signifying a fake peace in the air. "Kill me."

"Yosh! Can I do it, Sasori-sama?" Deidara was already holding a lump of clay in his hand.

"Naruto, I know you don't love me." Sasuke said as he looked up at Deidara. Blond hair and blue eyes. He looked different, but he knew it was Naruto. "If this is really love..." ...Naruto wouldn't be standing that far away, just out of his reach like a cruel dream. "Just kill me." If he couldn't be with Naruto, he didn't want to live. He didn't want to live through this pain any longer, to know that Naruto would fall in love with someone else, and love someone else, and be with someone else. He couldn't do it!

But he couldn't kill himself. Sasuke's pride wouldn't allow him to kill himself. Even though he was neglecting his home, and his mind was wandering...even though he couldn't even carry out one mission as a member of the Keimu Butai, failing where he should have succeeded...even though he had already changed too much to be himself anymore, to be a man Naruto could love, he couldn't deny that he was still Uchiha Sasuke. And Uchiha Sasuke couldn't kill himself. He had tried too hard and too long to keep himself alive.

But if Naruto killed him, he could accept it. If Naruto killed him, he would allow himself to die.

"Grow up and stop acting like a brat," Sasori said coldly as he absorbed all that the dark-haired chuunin had said. Sasuke had been sulking for months. "He's not coming back. Akatsuki can't help you bring the Kyuubi back." If the Uchiha couldn't figure that out, he was hallucinating worse than Sasori had thought. "They don't have tensei abilities of that level." The boy still stared at Deidara, as if he really saw Naruto there. Deidara wasn't even wearing orange! "And I'm not going to kill you!" He didn't want a hitokugutsu like him. He would rather let him suffer...stew in his own sorrow like the pitiful insect he had become. "But if you come near Sakura, I'll really kill you!"

"Then _I'll _do it!" Deidara said determinedly as soon as Sasori made up his mind. If Sasori wasn't going to do it, he will! But the puppetmaster grabbed Deidara by the arm and pulled him away before he could even pull his clay out. "W-we're leaving?" He could have easily killed him with a kumogata nendo. He wasn't going to move!

"Yes." Sasori didn't want to stay in this house any longer than was necessary. If he stayed for too long in a place so saturated with bad memories, he really would kill Sasuke.

'_Kuso!'_ Deidara looked back and watched the clay spiders scurry toward Sasuke. He was going to miss the explosion.

But Sasori dragged him back as soon as the explosions drew his attention again. He had hoped to leave Sasuke in his house and leave, but that wasn't going to happen.

**W**orried. Sakura's mind and body shook with worry. Sasori had been gone for almost two weeks, and wasn't responding to her orders. She had suspected it when he said he was going to kill Sasuke, but her mind had dismissed it when nothing out of the ordinary happened at Sasuke's house. Now, he wasn't responding again!

Sasuke could already be dead.

But she refused to think about that. She couldn't! She had to think about something else. Something else!

She stared at the photo across the small expanse of the room, at the photograph in its tiny frame, sitting atop the desk across from her small bed. _'Kakashi-sensei...' _Her mind wouldn't let go of what he had said. He...liked...her. And the way he had said it! That wasn't just the regular kind of like. He really meant that he _liked_ her.

She had avoided him for the last two weeks, but she wasn't going to be able to keep avoiding him for the rest of her life! Konoha wasn't _that_ big!

'_Shannaro!'_ Sakura flopped over in her bed, her arms squeezing her pillow and her softcover notebook to her chest, pressing them into unnatural shapes. She had already read the contents several dozen times, memorized all the words in that thin book. It could no longer distract her. _'Why did Kakashi-sensei have to tell me that!'_ Inner Sakura screamed even though she was calm. _'Sono baka!_

"I guess...he really..." Sakura couldn't think of a logical explanation.

'_He's stupid enough to confuse me with Rin-san! And he's even in denial about it!'_ Inner Sakura yelled even though there was only Sakura to hear it. _'He should just get it through his head that I'm not Rin-san! Does his obsession have no end!'_

"But he said he liked Sakura," the pink-haired girl said slowly, the pillow's seams tearing as she tightened her grip at the words, its stuffing slowly spilling onto her bed. There was no mistaking what he had said. He actually said her name. There was no other Sakura.

'_Shannaro...'_ She buried her face in the lopsided pillow. _'I really don't know what to do!'_

She couldn't just ignore him, or avoid him. Not only would that make her feel horrible for pushing him out of her world, it would also be too obvious. He would know that she was uncomfortable around him, that she was trying to push him away. No. There had to be another way!

"Sakura?" Sasori's voice called from downstairs. "I'm–"

"Teme!" Sakura's shout filled the air as she leapt down the stairs, landing a solid kick to the puppetmaster's head. "You killed Sasuke-kun!" Her original thoughts returned as soon as she heard his voice. "I'll kill you!"

Sakura's chakra-filled fists smashed into the side of Sasori's head, sending his eyes spinning. She was still too shaken by the memory of Kakashi's words to be too upset, but she didn't care. Kakashi's confession wasn't a good enough distraction. Sasuke was too important to forget!

"Sasori-sama!" Deidara shouted from the doorway. The Suna-nin hadn't called for help, so he was unsure of what to do. The girl was pummelling his partn–ex-partner into the ground. He knew that Sasori could defeat her, but... If he stopped her now, would Sasori kill him? "Do you want me to kill her?" That was the first thing that came to mind. It made sense. If the girl wasn't going to get off his chest, he should just get rid of her...even if Sasori hadn't given him any instruction to do it. The Sasori he knew from before would have wanted him to kill her. The Sasori from before would have been angry...even if this Sasori didn't look angry at all.

Deidara grabbed the girl by the arms anyway.

And instantly found himself flying out the open door, into the street.

"And don't bring girls into my home without permission!" Sakura shouted at Sasori's face. "Date girls somewhere else!"

"That's Deidara." Sasori's voice was completely unshaken by Sakura's words, even with her full weight sitting on his lungs.

"I don't care what her name is!"

"Deidara's a man."

Sakura's words stopped in her mouth as she stared at Sasori, her fists frozen in midair. "Sasori...I didn't know you like guys," she said seriously. She knew that he thought girls were annoying, but...

Sakura looked at the blond man smashed against the tree across the street.

...she expected someone different for Sasori.

"He followed me home."

"You have a stalker?" The blond man didn't look like a stalker either. _'I thought he'd kill stalkers.'_ Sakura was even more confused.

"You know what I mean!"

Sakura shook her head in confusion.

"You should read the Bingo Book more often." Sasori sat up, dropping the girl to the ground. He brushed the memory of the pink-haired girl's body from his chest.

"I'm not _stalking_ Sasori-danna, yeah!" Deidara glared at the girl.

Sakura held in a laugh. _'Danna?'_ That was the funniest thing she had ever heard.

"What's funny about my name?" Sasori looked down at the girl.

"If you're her master, then–"

"I'm a guy, yeah!" Deidara yelled. He wasn't a girl! He couldn't stress that enough. Even his voice was low.

"I already told you that Deidara's a man."

"I don't care. He's not staying in this house. We don't have room," Sakura said, her laughter gone as she looked seriously at the blond man. Her mind returned to practicality. If she invited another guest to stay, her parents were going to yell. They didn't like Sasori staying there already. "Where's he going to sleep?" Because she certainly wasn't going to let another person into her little room.

"He can sleep on your balcony." Sasori thought for a moment. "Unless you'll let him sleep in the living room."

"I'll find my parents' detonated corpses in the living room in the morning," Sakura said casually as the name finally registered in her mind and pulled the appropriate Bingo Book pages from her memory. Her memories of the first time she met him in Kawa no Kuni was hazy. She only remembered Sasori.

But she knew what his attacks were. It was written clearly in the Bingo Book. She wasn't sure which was better: finding hitokugutsu of her parents in the living room or finding half-blown-up limbs in the living room.

"It's taboo to say that." Sasori motioned for Deidara to come back in the house. The black Akatsuki cloak was very conspicuous.

"It's not taboo. It's practical," Sakura said as she walked into the living room. She wasn't sure if she could see him sleeping there.

"I'm not a pet, yeah! I can't just–"

"You're taking care of him. He's your pet," Sakura said as she walked up the stairs. She had left the latest medical reports in her room. "Ask Tsunade-shishou for it on your own. There's a complication at the hospital. I have to get there in two hours to take over for Shizune-senpai." She sat down on the couch with a thick document in her hands.

"Chikatsu..." Sasori read over the girl's shoulder, "...Saisei no Jutsu. Who almost died?"

"Sasuke's in critical condition. I'm assuming your _partner_ did something serious to him," Sakura said as she continued reading. "I received the notice a few minutes before you returned. What did he do to him!"

Sasori turned to Deidara who looked even prouder of himself than he was a moment before. "I blew him up a little. It wasn't anything serious." His voice was light, as if it really was nothing serious.

"YOU BLEW HIM UP!" Sakura leapt across the room at Deidara. "Shi-ne!"

"You shouldn't have told her," Sasori said as he grabbed the girl by the waist, holding her wrists together so that she could hit him. If he let her go, Deidara would just blow her up too. "Go outsi–" That was a bad idea. No one knew that he was in the village. That would cause even more problems. "We need to talk to Hokage-sama about you."

"What's there to say? I'm perfect," Deidara said confidently.

"That's not what he meant, baka! You're even more idiotic than Sasori!"

"So you're not depressed anymore?" Sasori asked suddenly, drawing the girl's attention away from Deidara before she could continue yelling. He had seen it as soon as he walked into the house. She was so high-strung, and her words were so stressed. And he could feel depression spilling into his body.

"No," she said blandly, her voice flat in spite of Sasori's concern. _'Wh...what is this!'_ She took a step away from Sasori, her hand flattening against the unnatural warmth spreading in her chest. _'Is he actually concerned about me?'_ She looked awkwardly at Sasori. This was a little too much shock for today. First Kakashi, then Sasori! "I'm leaving. I need to get to the hospital."

"I'm taking Deidara to the Hokage tower. We don't want ANBU waking us in the middle of the night."

The way Sasori said those words unsettled Sakura. _'Us?'_ That didn't sound right.

"Sakura?"

"Y-yes," Sakura said quickly as she grabbed the papers strewn on the tabletop into her arms. "I'll see you later. What do you want for dinner? I'll buy everything after the operation."

"Are you sure you'll have time?" Sasori stared at the girl. She was shaking all over.

'_Is...is he being nice!'_ Sakura's eyes widened as his mouth opened again. _'Don't tell me he's going to offer to do it!'_

"I'll have Deidara do it." Sasori smiled superciliously at Sakura. "You didn't think I was going to do it, did you?" He knew that was what she was thinking.

"No," Sakura said as she turned around, her face reddening in embarrassment. She knew that he knew what she was thinking. "That won't be necessary."

Sasori closed the door behind them before running after the girl. "Sakura," he said as he looked at her. "You should ask for a holiday. You're not feeling well." He had noticed it.

For a moment, Sakura thought he was kidding. She had hidden it very well.

"Deidara will do the shopping," Sakura conceded. "And I'll consider it," even though she didn't really have any intention of carrying it through.

"You're not my master, yeah!" Deidara shouted. "I don't have to follow your orders!"

Sakura glared at the blond man. He was irritating her. "Deidara, can you walk behind us several paces?" Sasori looked at his former partner. He was serious. Deidara fell behind them, his hatred towards the girl growing with every step.

"Just don't buy anything weird," Sakura added before she turned the corner toward the hospital. There was no arguing with Sasori. His mind was connected with hers. He knew about her condition and he definitely wasn't going to relent.

**I**no looked up at the continuously glowing sign atop the operating room. It had been two hours since Sakura went in and there was still no sign of the end. Her mind worried more, imagining what could be happening, if Sasuke was going to pull through.

The blond kunoichi turned from the operating room. That sign's bright light only worried her the more she looked at it. Even though she knew that Sasuke didn't love her, she still worried about him. It was the same for her, and she knew that it was the same for a lot of other fangirls. Even though she knew that he was already in love...with Naruto...Ino still knew that she loved him more! She loved him more than Naruto did! _'Ahh! This isn't the time to think about this!'_ Sasuke chose Naruto over them. She shouldn't be fighting with a dead man over someone she knew she couldn't have.

"How long has it been?" The figure of a familiar shinobi sat down, across from Ino.

"Two hours." Ino stared at the chuunin. "Are you waiting for Sasuke-kun?"

"No. I'm worried about Sakura-san."

"Why? It's only a simple operation." Ino could be so clueless sometimes.

"You wouldn't say that if you were here when they brought him in." Lee was really worried. Those injuries weren't going to be easy to heal. He wasn't sure if Sakura could handle such a big operation.

_Lee often walked into the hospital, not only because he wanted to see how far Shikamaru had recovered, but also because he knew that Sakura was here. He wanted to see her as well...even if he had never gathered enough courage to go and see her. _

"_Out of the way! Emergency!" Lee jumped out of the way of a Gurney, pressing himself against the wall as a commotion at the door caught his attention. It looked like..._

_Sasori! And he was holding Sasuke in his arms. He was holding a very, very bloody Sasuke in his arms. Blood coated Sasori's chest, falling to the ground in thick globs of gore._

_Lee's eyes fixed on the dark-haired boy's form as the Gurney flew past him. His clothes were blown to shreds, blood gushing from the skinless flesh of his body. At least he still had his limbs. But that was the only good thing Lee could see about it._

The black-haired chuunin shivered in memory. He really hoped that Sakura would be okay. It wasn't easy to deal with an injury like that. An injury like that on a man she had loved for over half her life. And she had been in the operating theatre for two hours.

"You don't understand, Ino." His tone was serious. "You should be worrying more about–"

The doors to the operating room flew open, the light still shining in spite of the medic-nin running past them. Their screams filled the air as an alarm filled the halls.

"Lee!"

Lee nodded. _'Sakura-san!'_ He could sense it too. That evil chakra.

**S**asori sighed again. He should have known something like this was going to happen. Deidara wasn't good with diplomacy. "Deidara, yose," he said sternly, hoping it was enough to hold back his annoyed ex-partner. If he wasn't careful, the Hokage's office could explode.

"Denied. Tsuchikage-sama is coming to bring you back to Iwagakure no Sato." Tsunade's brown eyes were stern. She wasn't going to change her mind. It was standard procedure when capturing nukenin. "Be glad I won't execute you right now!" And that was standard procedure when capturing S-ranked criminals.

And she really wanted to execute this irritating woman.

"You just thought I was a woman again, yeah!" Deidara shouted. "Do I sound like a woman to you!"

"It doesn't matter if you're a man, a woman or something else! You're not staying in Konoha!" She didn't need another nukenin raking her nerves. Gaara, an ally, was difficult enough to convince, and he only allowed Sasori to stay because Sakura was controlling him–although it didn't look like she had control over him any longer, which was worrisome–but the Tsuchikage of Iwagakure no Sato, a village they weren't even on good terms with, definitely wasn't going to allow them to keep Deidara!

"Hokage-sama," Sasori interrupted before they could argue any further. "I think you've misunderstood." Tsunade turned from Deidara to the redhead, the throbbing vein of irritation sinking in curiosity.

"You let Sasori-sama stay here!"

"He has permission from the Kazekage!" Tsunade shouted at the blond man, anger instantly eating all traces of curiosity from the woman's face. Her hands were tightening around the paperweight on her desk. He was as obstinate and annoying as Naruto, and her instinct was to deal with this annoyance in the same way.

"We're not asking for permission," Sasori said as he grabbed Tsunade's hands and slowly pried the paperweight from her grasp. He wanted to avoid a fight. If they killed the blond kunoichi, Sakura was going to kill him.

'_When did I care what she thought?'_ He contemplated that for a moment before turning his attention to the task at hand. He would worry about this annoying new point of view later.

"I'm only informing you that my subordinate will be residing within your village." Sasori's tone spoke of his unwavering superiority over this woman. "Any resistance will be dealt with thoroughly. This is a warning."

Tsunade glared at the redhead staring down at her. His arrogance hadn't deflated the smallest bit since he came to live in Konoha. "He _will _be executed."

"I will take full responsibility for his actions." Sasori needed someone more interesting than those annoying shinobi in this village. And hopefully, with Deidara's help, he could detach himself from Sakura once and for all.

The blond woman was about to open her mouth to rebuke him again when the door to her office threw open. "Hokage-sama!" Raidou shouted as he ran into the room. "Deidara!" He shouted as his eyes fell on the blond man. He fell back to grab a kunai from its holster.

"No. He's harmless," Tsunade said, waving the kunai away. Indirectly, it was permission to stay, but she could revoke it later. Raidou was sweating with urgency. "Nan desu?"

"It's–"

A ripple of evil chakra simultaneously waved through all their bodies, making even Sasori and Deidara shiver. "Sakura," Sasori mused for a moment.

Tsunade didn't even stop to hear the rest of Raidou's words. She shunshin-ed from her office. Sakura's cursed seal was breaking through Kakashi's Fuuja Houin. It was a crisis.

**End Chapter 11**

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Fire's English tidbits for those who care:

Arrgh! I was proofreading _Gaara's Dilemma_ for Sand and got a stomach ache from the deadwood, so I'm going to write a few tidbits about deadwood. There are four kinds. The first one is expletives. Expletives are sentences made with the expletive pronouns "there" and "it" with the verb "to be," usually placed at the beginning of sentences. When expletives are used as fillers to delay the real topic of the sentence, the sentence—and consequently, the story—become wordy and unnecessarily difficult to read. For example, "There are too many boxes of ramen in Sasuke's house," is an expletive, but the expletive pronouns aren't used as fillers—removing them would make the sentence incomprehensible—so it is a necessary expletive. However, "It is Deidara who blew up Sasuke," contains the filler expletive "it is." Removing it causes no change to the sentence's meaning. "Deidara blew up Sasuke," is better and less wordy. The overall paragraph becomes easier to read as a result, and won't give me a stomach ache. Using too many expletives can become repetitive and annoying. It is raining. It is this. It is that. – – ;; I think you know what I mean. As for unnecessary expletives, use them sparingly only to create suspense or to introduce new topics in dialogue. Don't use wordiness in your writing, only when your characters are speaking. I keep wordiness in colloquial English.

Fire's babbling:

Sakura: Baka! Baka! Baka! (strangles Deidara)

Deidara: (croaking through the strangling) Wh-what…did…I…do?

Sakura: How dare you blow up Sasuke-kun!

Sasuke: For my fangirls, I'm going to be fine. Shinpainai.

Sasori: Do you really think that someone's going to worry about you?

Naruto: Sasuke! No! I'll kill you, Deidara! (runs at Deidara)

Deidara: Time to go! (pushes Sakura away, jumps onto the back of a giant bird and flies away)

Kisame: Why did you kill me again?

Fire: Again? That was the only time.

Kisame: I thought you weren't going to put the fight in the story.

Fire: Did you want it to seem as if you just allowed Sasuke to kill you?

Kisame: …

Fire: Anyway, that fight was almost a year ago!

Sasuke: A year in the series. It hasn't been a year since we wrote it.

Fire: And since tomorrow is 666, I might upload something extra for the occasion. It only happens once every thousand years.

Kisame: That's scary.

Fire: But I have to!

Sasuke: Fine. We'll work all night on it!

Fire: Now please review. I personally think Deidara's a little OOC. If you agree or disagree, please tell me and give me some help on how to fix it. I keep rereading all his lines and actions but I can't seem to get it down. He wasn't around for that long and he hasn't appeared in the anime yet. I need source material! If you have Naruto raws, please send them to my email. I need to know their dialogue in the original Japanese to keep the characters in character! Waah!

Kisame: Hey! Don't hug me when you're screaming!

Fire: Waah!

Sasuke: We should just leave now.

Sakura: I'll kill you! (still strangling Deidara)

Sasori: And we're still taking votes. Remember to vote for me!

Fire: Waah!

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	13. Twelve: Deception

Tobi: (stares at the audience) …

Sasuke: What are you doing?

Tobi: Zetsu-sama's calling me back.

Fire: No! Tobi's doing a good job! (hugs Tobi tightly)

Zetsu: I wasn't calling him.

Fire: – –;; But… Tobi said…

Kisame: You actually believe this lying bastard?

Fire: (lets go of Tobi) Um…I guess not.

Sasuke: Are you scared of Fire already?

Tobi: – –;; Um…no.

Fire: Reviews! (grabs the review window from Tobi)

Tobi: (whispers to Sasuke) Fire-san's weird.

Sasuke: You realize this now?

Fire: First of all—

Sakura: Deidara left Akatsuki? Do you really believe that?

Fire: Hey! I was going to say that!

Deidara: Did you see how they were treating me? How can I not leave!

Sasuke: Second…

Kisame: Don't tell me no one saw _that_ coming. Sakura's seal releasing? I thought it was obvious that was going to happen. She was going to operate on Sasuke! And Chikatsu Saisei no Jutsu is a very taxing technique as it is!

Fire: Stop yelling at the reviewers, and _I_ was going to answer those reviews!

Sasori: And people are still cheering for me! (happy)

Sakura: Are you all insane?

Deidara: Forbidden-san, how could you say that I'm funny?

Kisame: Because you are?

Deidara: I'm not funny, yeah!

Kisame: …

Deidara: (reads the rest of the reviews) And I knew it! I'm OOC, yeah!

Fire: But no one knows how I can fix it! If anyone has Naruto raws or can direct me to where I can get them, please tell me! I need them to make sure my characters are in character!

Kisame: Fire never gets characters wrong after reading their dialogue in Japanese. It really helps to get an idea of what the character's like.

Fire: That's because there are so many synonyms in Japanese. Anyway, please help me find Naruto raws if possible.

Tobi: (pulls up chapter 12) Now?

Fire: Yeah. (sighs) I guess there's nothing else for me to say. Everyone else already said it.

Deidara: Thank you for cherishing my present, Aurora-san. It's good to find people who appreciate art, yeah!

Sasori: That's not art! I already told you that's not art!

Tobi: (quickly pulls up chapter 12 before a fight breaks out)

---------------------------

Note: If you didn't realize this before, later on, I use ANBU instead of the ANBU. This is not a misprint. I didn't write it wrong. ANBU refers to the specific shinobi of the ANBU, which refers to the organization. A synonym of ANBU would be ANBU shinobi, although the ANBU is not a synonym of ANBU shinobi. If you're confused about the difference, send me a PM or email and I'll explain it to you in detailed English.

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**Chapter 12: Deception**

'_**I** can't hide it. You must have seen it, the ugliness growing within me. It's too obvious to hide. So I'll confess. There's no reason to hold it in any longer. But I can't say it, not without knowing what you'll say. If I love you, will you hate me? If I change, will you still let me stay at your side? It's too late to stop it. I'm changing. And it scares me.'_

**P**eople filled the streets around Konoha Hospital, blocking all paths to the building. At first, Sasori thought they were all passersby until he came to the gates. Dark purple chakra filled the air, lashing at everyone who came close. The unmistakable chakra of a cursed seal.

Everyone had evacuated the hospital. Patients lay in their sickbeds, rolled into the streets with their IV drips still at their sides. Medic-nin and nurses watched worriedly as they waited for ANBU, the Hokage, anyone to arrive.

Sasori pushed through the dense crowd toward the hospital. "Sakura," he uttered under his breath as he fell pass the people. He looked at the building once, the ominous chakra stinging his skin as he wondered what stupid thought she was thinking when she released that seal. Then he propelled himself into the empty hospital. It was stupid. It was utterly stupid!

And it was Uchiha Sasuke's fault. Sasori didn't know how he did it, but he knew Sasuke made her release that seal.

Stale halls stretched in endless directions all around Sasori. He had never been in the hospital before. He only knew that Sakura worked in Intensive Care, because her healing abilities were too advanced to be wasted anywhere else. But he didn't even know where the ICU was!

He ran in circles, without any idea of where he was going. The dark chakra filling the hospital saturated every hall. He had no idea where Sakura was until a particularly strong concentration of chakra caught his attention. She was in that direction! Even if he didn't know where he was going, he knew she was there!

Sasori ran through the congruent halls. Every turn led to another series of white walls, sterile doors and empty stretches of floor. But he knew he was close. With every step, the evil chakra grew stronger. She was right around the next corner...

...but it was a dead end.

He should have known. He sensed her chakra, but it didn't mean there would be a door. There was no way in!

"Sasori-sama!" Deidara ran up, somewhat annoyed as he looked at the wall. "Don't run so fast, yeah!"

Sasori looked at the blond man, confused for a moment. "Deidara!" He had forgotten that Deidara was there. "Blow up this wall!"

At the command, the Iwa-nin glared at his former partner, annoyed in spite of pulling the clay from his pouch and pressing it onto the wall with an angry hand. And it exploded, crumbling into white clouds of dust, sending intense purple chakra rushing over them. But it wasn't enough to deter Sasori. Sakura was in danger. Her life was already slipping away, even if this chakra was still strong. The cursed seal was already eating her body.

"Sakura!"

The green glow of Chikatsu Saisei's diagram still filled the operating room, even though the four other medic-nin were gone. Only Sakura remained, the cursed seal marking over half her body. The healing technique had already stopped working even though the diagram's green light still encompassed Sasuke's unconscious body.

"Sakura! Yose!" Sasori ran forwards, pushing against the purple chakra repelling him. But he was still stronger. This seal...this chakra...was only a tool. Orochimaru was dead. Its effect should be weaker now!

With shaking hands, the Suna-nin grabbed the pink-haired girl from where she sat, but she wasn't stopping. Her entranced mind, clouded with chakra, slashed against his arms, intent on continuing with the operation. Sasori tightened his grip against the purple whips lashing against his body. _'I hope she doesn't remember this later,'_ he thought as his mind raced, trying to find a way to stop her. But he could only think of one solution. Behind him, Deidara was ready to kill her if necessary, if only to stop this oppressive chakra.

Sasori rammed his fist into Sakura's gut, sending her unconscious body collapsing into his arms.

"I can blow her up now, yeah?" Deidara still expected Sasori to allow him to kill her.

Or at least, maim her.

Sasori wished that thought wasn't the only thing on Deidara's mind. "No!" But it was. Deidara was disappointed.

The redhead looked up, his brown eyes scanning the room expectantly, but there was nothing. The room really was empty. For a moment, he had thought Tsunade would be here, punching him in the face and grabbing Sakura away. But she wasn't. "Where's Hokage-sama?" She should be there! She had left before them.

"Here," Tsunade said, her voice unshaken by her tardiness. Her entire manner was nonchalant with a lottery ticket in one hand and a bottle of sake in the other. "I knew you could handle it!" She stuffed the lottery ticket in her pocket as she knelt down to look at Sakura. The cursed seal still stained her skin, but it was very slowly retreating. "Good job, Sasori-kun." It would become inactive again, even if they did nothing to it.

Sasori's eyes glared coldly at the blond woman. "What do you mean by good job?" His frigid voice sent Deidara stumbling backwards. If Sasori was in Hiruko at that moment, he would have stung Tsunade with its poisoned scorpion's tail. Fortunately, Sakura had destroyed Hiruko. "She could have died," he growled.

"Daijoubu," Tsunade said with a smile as she turned from Sasori to Sasuke. She remained unfazed as she examined his injuries. "Nothing serious happened." She rose to turn to Sasori again as the doors to the operating room opened, sending medic-nin rushing in. "Shosen Jutsu can handle the rest of his injuries."

"I meant Sakura!" The Suna-nin almost combusted with anger. He flew to his feet, his arms tightening around the unconscious pink-haired girl. "And don't call me Sasori-kun! I'm the same age as you!"

"You're younger," Tsunade said tauntingly.

"By a few years!"

The blond woman ignored Sasori's outburst. "I'll come by the house tomorrow to check up on Sakura after she has had some rest." She was hiding her pleasure from taunting Sasori. "If required, I'll send Kakashi to reseal the cursed seal." Her tone was lighter than it should have been in such a dire situation. "I'm putting her on leave for as long as she wants. She has been overworked with all the problems around here lately." She opened her sake bottle.

"Don't drink when you're in the hospital," Sasori said as he grabbed the sake. He couldn't believe that a woman like this was the Hokage. _He _would be a better Hokage than this woman!

Tsunade stared at her sake bottle in Sasori's hand, and for a moment, Sasori thought that she would be angry, that she would punch him with all her strength even though he was holding Sakura. But instead of growing angry, Tsunade only laughed. "Sakura really has rubbed off on you," she said as she grabbed the sake forcefully from Sasori's hand. She remembered many times before, when Sakura would scold her for drinking or gambling when she should be doing something else, something more important, like her lessons, or the paperwork constantly waiting on her desk. "Don't fall in love with her."

"I won't." Sasori's voice was serious in spite of knowing that the woman was joking. But it was already too late. The disturbing thought was already in his head. The awareness of his growing fondness was already implanted.

**T**obi's body sank, fell wearily against the fallen tree, his mind engrossed in thought. He had received Zetsu's latest orders, news of their earlier meeting. He couldn't believe it. He still couldn't believe the organization's decision. Deidara! They had sent Deidara! He just couldn't allow it! If Deidara completed the mission successfully, his chance to enter Akatsuki was over!

That was why he couldn't allow him to do it. He couldn't allow Deidara to complete his mission. Knowing the Iwa-nin, he would work through Sasori. But that just meant that Tobi couldn't fight Sasori. He could still find the Kyuubi. If he could find the Kyuubi and capture him before Deidara, he still had a chance. Akatsuki could still accept him!

But how? He couldn't think of a way to find the Kyuubi without Deidara knowing. The only way he could think of capturing the Kyuubi would be to capture the only man capable of summoning the jinchuuriki. Uchiha Sasuke. The Kyuubi was dead. It was practically impossible to sense the Kyuubi's feral chakra. So the only way to get him would be to get the jinchuuriki's master, Uchiha Sasuke.

'_Gomen nasai, Zetsu-sama.'_ Zetsu would definitely be angry. If he failed, his master wouldn't protect him this time. But it was his only chance. If he wanted Akatsuki to accept him as an equal, he had to capture the young Uchiha.

**S**asuke's whole body hurt. He couldn't remember anything after Deidara smashed him against a tree. He didn't even know how he returned to Konoha. All he knew was that he wasn't allowed outside his house. He was under house arrest with chakra restrictions. If he moulded any chakra over the normal resting limit, the ANBU sent to keep an eye on him would restrain him with any force necessary. That meant that if he resisted, they could kill him. It was obvious that Tsunade still didn't trust him.

But the restriction meant that he couldn't summon Naruto, and he really wanted to see the blond shinobi again.

'_Kuso!'_ He didn't think he would fail! He didn't know that Deidara would attack him like that! _'Kuso! Kuso! Kuso!'_ The Iwa-nin was definitely stronger than he looked. He thought it would be easier.

"Hey! You!" Sasuke glared at the ANBU with the mask of a...cat? A tiger?

"Nani?" The man walked to the dark-haired shinobi, stopped at his side.

"I'm leaving." Sasuke needed to find Akatsuki. Deidara was a dead end, but there had to be someone around, someone who could bring him to the organization! "Tell that old woman that I'm not coming back."

"No." From behind that mask, Sasuke knew the shinobi was glaring at him.

"You forget," Sasuke growled as he stood up, his dark eyes boring into the other man. "I'm stronger than you, Yamato." Even with the mask covering his face, Sasuke knew the man beneath that chakra. He knew that it was the same man who had come with Naruto, Sakura and Sai to get him.

"We were unprepared before." Behind him, the ANBU woman with the mask of a dog watched over their conversation. "And you should know that Akatsuki couldn't help you by now." They were unprepared before, but this time, there were more than enough ANBU to restrain Sasuke. Two teams. That was more than enough people to hold Sasuke back.

"..." Sasuke stared, his mind unable to think of what to do. He knew. He knew very well what Yamato was saying. But he was trying to ignore it. He couldn't accept it. He couldn't accept that he could do nothing, that Naruto was gone.

Without a word, he turned away. He needed something more interesting to do. He needed something to take his mind off Naruto. He needed something that could make him forget everything that had happened for the past three years, for the past seven years, since he learned of the name Naruto.

Because at least then, he would have some peace. Because at least then, he could free himself from the red thread tied around them. "Naruto..." But he knew he couldn't forget.

**S**akura's skin throbbed in unison with the never-ending pounding on her door. With another groan, she turned over, curling the blankets around her body. She didn't want any visitors disturbing her. She only wanted sleep. But...

"Sakura!" Ino's voice sang cheerfully as she walked through the open door into the room. "How are you feeling?"

...Ino wasn't going to go away. She was there, at the hospital when the seal was released. She knew all about the incident.

"Go away, Ino-buta!" Sakura shouted through the layers of cloth covering her head, even as she curled more layers over herself.

"Ignore her. She has been like that all day." Sasori's voice came from where he sat, outside Sakura's realm of muffled stimuli, with his back against the balcony's cold glass doors. He was reacquainting himself with coldness.

But Ino wasn't going to ignore Sakura. "I brought daifuku!" Ino said, teasing the pink-haired girl with the brightly decorated box, even as Sakura sat up at the thought of sweets. The blond girl waved the box in front of her friend with a smile. At least Sakura was responding.

"Daifuku?" The blanketed mass shivered as a hole opened for Sakura to see more clearly. "Don't eat them!" She shouted at Sasori.

"I won't," the Suna-nin said as he looked at the round white globs. He hadn't actually had any daifuku before. As a Suna-nin born during the Great Ninja Wars, he grew up without those luxuries.

"I know you want to," Sakura growled, even as she grabbed the box of daifuku protectively away from Sasori. He had never had daifuku before. He would naturally be curious about its taste and flavour.

"Ne, Sakura!" Ino said as she looked around the room, her obviously overdressed form shining in full radiance even as her voice revealed her disappointment at seeing Deidara's missing presence. "I heard you have a new houseguest." It was obvious why she came in full battle glory after that sentence. "Is he cute?"

Sakura looked at her friend, slight disbelief on her face even though she already knew that this was going to happen. Something like this had happened before, when she first brought Sasori to Konoha. "He's evil." Ino had thought that Sasori looked psychotic, like Gaara when they first met him, three years ago. She didn't want to go near him at first.

But Sakura already knew that Deidara wouldn't like Ino. In fact, he was more likely to blow her up, just to make her go away.

"But is he _cute_?" Ino insisted on a proper answer. Sakura hadn't given her a proper answer. Was he cute? It was all she cared about.

Sakura sighed. Her effort to keep Ino away from the explosive-crazy man wasn't working, but her next words could help. "He's the ugliest person I've ever seen next to Sas–" Sakura ran out of the room, across the hall into the bathroom. The door slammed behind her, muffling all sounds within.

Ino winced at the slamming of the door. "How long has she been like that?"

"Two months," Sasori said as he placed the box of daifuku gently on the corner of Sakura's bed. "And Deidara's not ugly. She was lying."

"Sasori..." Sakura walked into the room again, her arm wiping her mouth. "...you'd better not be saying anything weird to Ino."

"I'm not." Sasori stared at Sakura for a moment, lost in thought before speaking again. "Hokage-sama is coming by later." He had forgotten to tell Sakura.

"Nani! I don't need a check-up!" Sakura instantly knew what Tsunade wanted. "I'm a medic-nin. If I was hurt, I could heal myself!" And not only that but she was...

"She wants to make sure the seal around that cursed seal is intact." Sasori wasn't even shaken as he spoke. There was nothing he could do about it. Everyone had to find out eventually. He was just glad that he wasn't Sakura.

"But..."

"It's only a routine check-up."

"I don't need one!"

"Sakura!" Sasori grabbed the girl by the arm, anger blazing around him. "Do you know what you did? You knew!" He shouted as he shook her forcefully. If she didn't understand, he would make her understand. "You knew you weren't strong enough to take on that operation! You could have killed yourself!"

"Listen to him, Sakura! I'm worried about you," Ino said, even though she wasn't sure if Sakura could hear through the shouting.

But Sasori did, even through his shouting.

"I said–" Anger filled Sakura's body, chakra shooting through her limbs.

Sasori's senses flared. Chakra burned through her skin, singed his fingers. "Sakura!" He shouted as he pulled the girl to the ground, into his arms. He couldn't think of any other way to calm her. If he didn't do it, she would surely punch him, send him flying through the balcony doors, off the balcony and down from the second story room to the ground far below. "You should listen to your friend!" He had heard Ino. He was sure that Sakura had heard Ino too, even if she was too angry to really hear her.

"Waah!" Sakura screamed frustratedly as she punched Sasori in the face. "Don't touch me!"

But Sasori only laughed.

"Sugoi!" Ino sighed as she looked down at Sasori and Sakura. "You two look really close." Sasori was too scary for her, but for Sakura, he was practically perfect! _'And that leaves Sasuke-kun for me!'_ It really was perfect!

"What do you mean, Ino-buta?" Sakura glared up at her friend, even though there wasn't a hint of menace in it. "Can't you see this hentai attacking me?"

"..." Sasori didn't know how to react to that comment. _'Hentai?'_ He couldn't use the excuse that he was a puppet anymore. "Who would want an ugly girl like you?

"What did you say!" Sakura punched Sasori again.

But another set of knocks at the door interrupted their fighting before Sakura could truly hurt Sasori. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything," Tsunade said as she walked past the open door into the small room. In fact, the room was really too small to hold everyone, but it managed without too much difficultly. Tsunade stayed at the edge of the room, where no one was at that moment.

"No, you're not interrupting anything, Tsunade-shishou," Sakura said as she pushed herself from Sasori, landing promptly on her feet.

"Yokata. You two, leave. I don't want you watching." Tsunade was already ordering them out.

And Ino ran out of the room without a word of complaint. She wasn't going to argue with the Hokage.

"Be careful. She has some very crazy mood swings today," Sasori said as he rose to his feet, taking the box of daifuku with him as he left. "Behave, Sakura."

"Don't tell me to behave!" Sakura yelled at the redhead before the door closed on his smirking face and she could turn her attention to Tsunade. "I don't need a check-up. I'm fine." Sakura's voice was normal again, although somewhat cold. But she had to be cold if she wanted to convince Tsunade to leave without objections.

"No. That's not really why I'm here," Tsunade said calmly, even against Sakura's cold words. "There is no danger from the cursed seal." It was only a cover, something to say to Sasori so he wasn't suspicious, although she was sure he already knew. The Suna-nin was supposed to be a genius. With his observational skills, he would have seen it by now. "As long as you want to stop the cursed seal, Kakashi's Fuuja Houin should be there to stop it."

Sakura absorbed her shishou's words for a moment before facing her again. "Then..." Why was she here? The apprehensive question sat in her chest, an uneasy lump.

Tsunade's eyes were hard with confrontation as she held out a container, and shook it for Sakura to hear. The sound of tiny white pills. "Tell me about this."

"It's nothing." Sakura didn't want to say anything. Tsunade had brought them into her house. The ones in Sakura's drawer, locked safely away, were completely out of sight. Tsunade couldn't prove that she was taking anything!

But nothing escaped Tsunade's eyes. "How long has it been? Two months?" Nothing could escape from the Hokage. "You thought we wouldn't notice them? Your mood swings..."

"It's nothing!"

"Your strange cravings..."

"I just want to eat something different."

"Your loss of appetite..."

"I wasn't hungry! It means nothing!"

"Your morning sickness..." Tsunade shook the pills. "You shouldn't take morning sickness medicine from the hospital. We keep records of our narcotics." As soon as the hospital's monthly inventory records came to her office, Tsunade knew.

"But it doesn't mean that–" But Sakura already knew that Tsunade knew. There was no point in continuing further.

"Are you going to tell him?"

"Maybe," Sakura said slowly as she sat down on a corner of her bed.

"You can't hide it for much longer." Tsunade's voice softened as Sakura admitted it. Sakura didn't need a lecture. She needed someone to support her.

"I know!" Sakura shouted, annoyed. But the frustration quickly faded away as her mind settled on the truth. This was it. She couldn't lie to herself anymore. "He always wanted children," Sakura said with a soft smile as the idea finally settled in her mind. She couldn't escape reality anymore. "I guess this is his chance."

"The father deserves to know," Tsunade said, not sure what she was saying, even though she was saying it. She never dealt with this problem before. This was best suited for someone else. Shizune, not her.

"But it's still too soo–"

And the sound of a heavy body hitting the ground interrupted them before they could continue.

**End Chapter 12**

---------------------------

Fire's English tidbits for those who care:

This is deadwood continued. The second type of deadwood is omnibus words. Most deadwood is composed of omnibus words. What are omnibus words? They're abstract and general words that add little or no information to the sentence. They can be nouns, adjectives, verbs or adverbs. These are words like fact, matter, problem, and thing. They don't relate to any specific ideas or concrete nouns. For example, "The problem was that Deidara loved blowing things up, so the fact that he blew up Sasuke wasn't surprising," contains the omnibus words problem and fact. Although this would be correct in colloquial English, for written English, it is better to take out the omnibus words and shorten the sentence for easier reading and to narrow the focus of the sentence to a specific topic. "Deidara loved blowing things up, so blowing up Sasuke wasn't surprising," is better. And remember, omnibus words are also a part of the arsenal of artistic devices. Use them only for emphasis and effect, but don't overuse them. If you want to know what effect omnibus words can create, I can bring it up in a later tidbit, but at the moment, I'll leave it at this.

Fire's babbling:

Sakura: Don't touch me! Hentai! (smacks Sasori in the head)

Sasuke: Hm…your votes are going to decrease because of this.

Sasori: I don't care! (glares at Sakura)

Deidara: The old Sasori-sama would have been happy that she was dying. He could have made her into a puppet, yeah.

Sasori: – –;;

Sakura: O.O You want to make me into a puppet!

Sasori: Um…no.

Fire: Sakura puppets for everyone! (tosses wooden effigies of Sakura to the audience) I'll have Sasori make more and toss them out next chapter too!

Kisame: I don't want to know.

Sasuke: How long are you going to make me agonize over Naruto?

Fire: At least one more chapter.

Sasuke: You can't think of anything for me to do?

Fire: You tried to join Akatsuki. They're keeping you under observation until Tsunade decides you can be safely left alone.

Sasuke: – –;; She makes it sound like I'm going to blow up the village… (looks at Deidara) …or something like that.

Deidara: Hey! I'm not even officially in Konoha! Sasori-sama said he'd take full responsibility for me, yeah!

Sasori: Until I decide he's useless. Then I'll kill him.

Deidara: – –;; You wouldn't do that, would you, Sasori-sama, yeah?

Sasori: …

Sakura: Of course he would! You'd make the perfect puppet!

Sasori: (looks at Sakura) … (looks away) Actually, the perfect puppet is… (mumbles)

Sakura: What?

Deidara: It's not me?

Fire: Review! Stop reading this and review! Arrgh!

Kisame: And tell Fire to stop hugging me.

Fire: I can hug who I want!

Kisame: – –;;

Fire: Anyway, I update the glossary once a week, so if you haven't read it in awhile, you'd be surprised. It's getting really, really long. – –;; I might just make a site offsite and link it. It currently takes thirteen pages on word. Copy and paste it if you want. I don't own the terms. I just decided to share them. But I warn you, I really _do_ update once a week, so it might just be easier to bookmark it.

Kisame: I thought you were supposed to ask for reviews, not advertise.

Fire: Waah! Gomen nasai! I forgot! Review! Review, please!

Kisame: I'm going to take the crazy writer away.

Sasuke: You'd better not be talking about me.

Kisame: … (grabs Fire) Um…I'll come back for you later. (runs away)

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	14. Thirteen: Confusion

Fire: Sakura puppets for everyone! (throws wooden Sakura puppets to the audience)

Sasori: I worked really hard on those. Can you not throw them out so liberally?

Fire: I'll do what I want!

Sasori: O.o I'll kill you!

Kisame: And make Fire into a puppet? The puppet will be useless. Fire doesn't have the smallest bit of chakra, and has no taijutsu ability. You'd be better off killing Lee.

Sasori: … (thinks for a moment) You're right.

Lee: – –;; Um…boku-wo korosanaide kudasai.

Fire: Now for the reviews! Tobi!

Tobi: (runs up with the Big Bag of Reviews) Here are the reviews, Fire-san!

Fire:

Sasuke: Luna-san finally reviewed! (annoyed) Took you long enough!

Fire: Um…don't publicly shout at someone!

Sasuke: (glares at Fire) I can do what I want!

Fire: (runs behind Kisame) Um…next! Soda-san's muses asked if we were going to add lemon to this fic, and the answer is no.

Deidara: Why would be put it in, yeah?

Sasuke: The storyline doesn't require it, so we've decided to keep it out. Besides, adding lemon will raise the rating to an M, and we don't want to change ratings in the middle of the story. That's misleading.

Fire: I don't like that.

Sasori: – –;; In case some of you forgot…

Itachi: Kisame and I are dead at this point in the storyline.

Kisame: I'm not dead!

Fire: Yes you are. Did you forget?

Kisame: …

Itachi: We may pop up again during flashbacks, but that's it.

Fire: And if anyone can figure out why Deidara's OOC, I'd like to know. I know he's OOC. I just want to know what I can do to fix it since I have no idea what's making him that way!

Deidara: I'm too nice, yeah.

Fire: That's not it!

Sakura: And I'm not in love with Sasori!

Sasuke: You're in denial.

Sakura: There will never, NEVER be any little Sasori's and Sakura's running around! I only give birth to Uchiha children!

Itachi: (backs away from Sakura) …

Naruto: How about an Uzumaki?

Sakura: (glares at Naruto) Never.

Deidara: Give it a try, yeah.

Sakura: I said no!

Fire: (reading Aurora-san's review) Hm…yes. I'll be elaborating on all the points that came up in the last chapter, but that will happen over the next few chapters. – –;; There are a lot of things to address, and in the middle of the storyline too! I'm trying to find places to put everything without making each chapter too long. It's long enough as it is, so I might have to create new chapters again. – –;; Please don't kill me.

Kisame: Ahem! (points at EasilyAmusedReader-san)

Fire: O.O;; Waah! And please don't kill me for the cliffhangers! I didn't mean them! They just pop up since everyone's doing things at their own pace and I _have_ to end the chapter when the object of the chapter has been reached! Please don't kill me either! (hugs Kisame for comfort)

Kisame: Don't hug me!

Fire: But I need a hug! This chapter ends on a cliffhanger too!

Sasuke: If you're just going to cry, I'm going to order Tobi to summon the next chapter.

Fire: (looks up) Well, before we do that, I want to add one last thing!

Sasuke: Make it short.

Fire: Sekiryu-san, your review can be as long or as short as you want. I read it all and will reply no matter what you write. Everyone knows about my insanely long replies right?

Kisame: That's because you won't stop talking. Like now.

Fire: – –;; Um…I'll stop now. Tobi, you can summon the next chapter.

Tobi: (pulls out a summoning scroll and summons chapter 13) …

---------------------------

**Chapter 13: Confusion**

'_**M**adness has swept over the world, and words are filling the air. Hate me while you still can. Soon, I will no longer be affected by those emotions. Soon, these searching hands will find the words to make you love me. Or will they find the words to make me stop loving you?'_

**S**akura's mind had broken. No matter what she did, she couldn't stop screaming at herself. Tsunade had revealed it all to her parents. They knew! They knew, and she couldn't stop herself from dwelling on that fact.

The pink-haired girl looked around the empty living room for a moment before rising from her seat. This room didn't help. It only served to remind her of her father's words. _'Stay here!'_ He had woken from his faint an hour ago and had decided to take a walk to clear his head. He had said he would be right back, but he still hadn't returned. And she couldn't wait any longer.

"I'm taking a walk," Sakura said as she headed out the door. She, more than her father, needed a long walk to clear her head.

Sasori ran after her, locking the door to the empty house. He didn't know where Deidara was. He had told him to stay out of sight–especially after the surprisingly disturbing realization that Deidara was a dangerous man during their visit to the hospital–and amazingly, the Iwa-nin was doing it. The redhead couldn't be more thankful for that obedience. At least he didn't have to worry about trouble brewing between his ex-partner and Sakura. He had said that he would take full responsibility for Deidara's actions, and the Hokage would definitely hold him to those words. If Deidara caused any trouble, Tsunade wouldn't think twice about dropping him down a canyon.

"Sakura, where are you going?" Sasori had to ask after he looked around. They were already far from the dense urban areas of Konoha, in the outskirts. There were only trees and the sound of rushing water. No houses or the voices of the crowds were around.

And Sakura didn't tell him. "You don't have to follow me," she said coldly as she walked into the trees.

Sasori glared at the girl's back momentarily before following after her. She was right; he didn't have to follow her, but he couldn't just leave her alone. He would only worry. Even if their ties were loosening, he couldn't stop worrying about her... _'Kuso!'_ ...no matter how hard he tried to stop.

The rumble of falling water rose around them as Sakura walked to the edge of the cliff. Clouds of mist surrounded the pink-haired form, even though the river was at her feet. _'The waterfall...'_ Sakura closed her eyes, taking in the cool, clean scent of falling water.

This was the place where Jiraiya-sama had brought Naruto to learn Kuchiyose no Jutsu. She had come here a few times when she needed to be alone. The Sannin often spoke of this place when he went to the Hokage tower to see Tsunade, when her shishou left her alone in the personal study to attend to important business that had mysteriously popped up. Sakura never liked being left alone with the perverted old man, but she wasn't opposed to his strange and wild stories. Especially the ones about Naruto's training and progress. It made her want to work harder.

That was why, even though she didn't like Naruto, she didn't not like this place that was so closely connected to Naruto.

"Don't kill yourself over me." If she walked two steps farther, Sasori could swear she would jump. She was standing so close to the edge.

"Daijoubu. I won't." She would never jump for Sasori.

Sasori looked over the waterfall at the slippery rocks leading to the bottom of the canyon. "Why are we here?" He couldn't see what was so great about this place, why she had come here, except that it might be a good place to kill someone. Those rocks were definitely too slippery to stick to, even with chakra. "There's too much water." There wasn't so much water in Suna no Sato. So this would be the perfect place to kill him.

Sasori took a few steps away from Sakura.

"You don't need to know," Sakura said, her back still turned toward Sasori. She stretched in the cool wind blowing through her hair, her mind floating above her into the breeze. And it seemed like she wasn't planning to kill him after all.

"Tell me anyway." Sasori knew that she wasn't going to kill him, but knowing why they were there would take his mind off the other fear. It would take his mind off how close she was standing to the edge.

"I like coming here." The pink-haired girl's words were soft, carried by the wind to the redhead behind her. "Here, there's only the cold wind and the endless stretches of sky. Nothing else exists. The world can fade out of my mind and all my troubles just melt awa–ah!"

Sakura turned suddenly, her eyes fixed on the red ribbon carried into the sky by the breeze. She reached for it, her fingers curling toward the sky, but it eluded her. Ino's gift was slowly floating away.

The wind carried it further, up toward the sun for a moment longer before Sasori pulled the red halo down with a chakra string. "Useless woman," Sasori said as he caught the cloth coldly in his hand, as if it was nothing. "Can't even hang onto a small ribbon." He stretched the ribbon out as he walked toward the girl, his hands tying the strip of cloth around her hair again.

"A-arigatou." Sakura didn't like to say it. She didn't _want _to say it. But she was thankful. Ino's present could never be replaced.

"So how about a reward for bringing it back?"

'_A reward?'_ Sakura's eyes widened at the words. _'What does he mean by that!'_ Inner Sakura screamed. "Hentai!" Sakura punched the Suna-nin to the ground before storming away. "Don't come near me!" And she was gone.

Sasori sighed as he stared at the sky. That wasn't what he meant.

**T**he day was ending. Again. He knew that Sakura was trying to avoid him. He knew. That was why he was avoiding her too. He needed to avoid her. Knowing what he had said to her was enough to make him want to fade into nonexistence. He just couldn't face her.

But he had to! He wanted to explain himself! He wanted to see her and explain what he was trying to say; however, he couldn't find her anywhere. The hospital was busy, especially since the emergency evacuation the day before. No one would tell him the details of that emergency either.

All he could do was try to ignore everything.

Still trying to keep his mind from Sakura, Kakashi dragged his weary legs from the training grounds toward his apartment. Since the Hokage wanted to keep him from missions for a while, he had nothing but training to keep himself occupied.

"Kakashi!" The shout came from down the street, and as the grey-haired jounin turned to see what it was, he clearly saw the figure of a familiar man heading in his direction.

"Haruno-san?" He turned to run. Sakura's father wasn't going to stop.

"Teme! Don't you run!" The man shouted, holding up a kunai as he rammed the other man to the ground, the black edge against his neck.

"N-nani?" Kakashi couldn't imagine what was making Sakura's father attack him.

"Don't pretend you know nothing!" The man pressed the kunai down, tearing through the dark blue fabric covering his skin.

"But I really know nothing," Kakashi insisted, still confused. He could easily overpower this man and push him away, but that wouldn't explain why he was attacking him. _'What is this?'_ He hadn't gone anywhere near Sakura since the day they told him to stay away. He _was_ trying to find her and explain himself, but they couldn't possibly have any problems with _that_. He wasn't even near her!

"Bakayarou!" The street around them rose in a commotion at the shout, drawing the attention of the nearby crowds. "You damned irresponsible father! You're going to leave Sakura to raise your bastard child!"

"N-n-nani!" Kakashi didn't know anything about a child! _'I should have explained it to them sooner!'_ They thought... "Sakura's what!" He didn't even know about that!

"You hurt my daughter. You're the father! You're not leaving my daughter alone now!"

"But I'm not the father! I didn't even know!" Kakashi grabbed the man's wrist as the kunai pressed down, spreading thin blood across his shirt. With minor effort to overpower the insanely angry man, the masked jounin pushed him back in time to shunshin away. The kunai fell, embedding itself in the bloodless ground before it could seriously hurt anybody.

Kakashi reappeared far from the furious man. He wasn't going to return. That man was too angry to listen to his reasoning. He would definitely kill him, no matter what he said.

But that wasn't what was on Kakashi's mind.

'_Sakura's pregnant?'_ He didn't even know about that! He certainly wasn't the father. _'Kuso!'_ No matter what the rumours say, he wasn't the father of her child. But if he wasn't the father then...

Sasori! Sasori had to be the father! That was even more annoying than if he was kissing her right in front of him. He wanted to throttle that damned Suna-nin. There was no one else. There couldn't possibly be anyone else except...

'_Lee?'_ But that was impossible.

"Lee!" Kakashi leapt out and grabbed the green-clad chuunin. On the only direct road through Konoha to the training grounds, it was easy to find Lee here at the end of the day. "You..." He didn't know how to say it. If Lee said it was his, Kakashi didn't know what he would do.

"Kakashi-sensei, nan des-ka?" The boy stared at him, his perfectly round eyes even rounder with surprise. Kakashi usually kept to himself with his face buried between the pages of his orange book, or just walking hurriedly to his next destination. He didn't jump out at people like this.

"Lee, are you the father!" Kakashi's uncovered eye pounded with panic.

"N-nani?" Lee was even more surprised than he was the moment before. He wasn't expecting a question like that from Kakashi. He didn't know what he was talking about. Lee was too surprised.

Kakashi released his grip on the green shoulder. "So..." Kakashi sighed tiredly. "...you don't know."

"Know what?" Lee couldn't understand what Kakashi was saying.

"Sakura's pregnant."

Lee leapt back several feet, landing two blocks away... "Waah!" ...and ran back to Kakashi with frantic urgency. "What are you saying, Kakashi-sensei!" He understood almost immediately. "I would never do something like that!"

Kakashi slumped at the response, partly relieved, partly irritated. He should have known. Lee was too...Lee to do something like that. He couldn't possibly be the father. "I know." But that meant it was Sasori. Sasori had done it. "I'm going to kill him."

**T**he cool wind ran ripples across the lake's surface, distorting the pink reflection on the water. Sakura breathed in deeply before releasing it with a heavy sigh. The peace she had attained earlier was ruined, but she didn't want to go home yet. She needed another place to calm down. Sasori had annoyed her again, and she certainly couldn't go back to the waterfall. Sasori was still there, and she didn't want to see him.

Sakura curled into her body as the wind grew colder, blowing a shadow over her. For a moment, she didn't notice through her squinted eyes, but the darker atmosphere drew her attention. She looked up, annoyed at the sudden interruption of her peaceful world. "What are you doing here?" She demanded as her eyes fell on Deidara atop a giant bird.

"No reason." Deidara certainly wasn't going to tell Sakura anything. The annoying girl was only an obstacle. To Sasori. And to him.

"Hey," Sakura said as she stood up, sending waves of water rippling away from her feet. "Let me sit on that." Her hand reached for the bird's clay neck, pulling her body from the lake as the sudden urge to ride the bird overcame her.

"Hanase! Let go of my bird, yeah! Get off!" Deidara shouted, but the girl was already kneeling on the bird's back. He couldn't kick her off. Sasori would definitely kill him if he hurt Sakura. "What are you doing in the middle of a lake anyway!" He settled for shouting at her as if she was a lunatic.

"Nothing." Sakura looked at the dark reflection in the water. She didn't want to see anyone, not even Deidara. But even through it was still light, it was too late in the day to see anything but shadow in the water.

"Good." Deidara turned from staring at the girl to look around the area. "I've decided," he said with a smile as the thought formed in his mind. "I'm going to blow this place up, yeah."

"N-nani!" The words sank slowly into her mind. "No!" Sakura shouted, turning suddenly to the blond man. "You can't!"

"It's ugly." Deidara reached into his clay pouch. "There's too much green, yeah."

"You can't!"

"It's only regular kibaku nendo, yeah," the Iwa-nin mused, ignoring the girl. He was completely engrossed in his thoughts before turning to Sakura seriously. "But if you want, I can spare some dai-jyuuhachi. You want to see that, yeah?" The explosion would be much more beautiful if he switched to the good clay.

"Dai-jyuuhachi?" Sakura had no idea what he was talking about, but it didn't sound good. She couldn't let him blow up anything here. "We're too close to the village!" She tried to appeal to his kinder side...if he had a kinder side.

"C3 no Bakuhatsu. I haven't used it in awhile." There was already a glob of clay in his hand.

"No!" Sakura grabbed the ball of clay from Deidara. "You can't!" If he didn't want the clay to explode, it wouldn't explode. She knew that. She remembered from their fight in Kawa no Kuni. As long as the clay was still on the bird, he couldn't destroy anything. He wouldn't blow himself up.

"That's okay. I still have–"

Sakura grabbed his clay pouch from him, clutching it tightly to her chest. "You can't destroy the lake." Even though she cared about the village as well, it still came out as lake. A part of her past rested here. The latter part of her past, with all her fond memories of Sasuke, had already been torn apart, ripped into shreds of red cloth, tucked far from sight beneath the pillows in her room. She couldn't allow the rest of her memories to blow away from her with a single explosion.

"Why? Is this place special?" Deidara loomed over her, an evil grin on his face. "Is there a reason why I shouldn't blow it up?"

"No reason," Sakura said as she backed away. There was a reason, a very good reason, but she didn't want to tell him. Sacred things should be kept away from people like him.

"If it's not special, then I'll just blow it up, yeah," Deidara said as he straightened again, his hand reaching into the black shuriken pouch at his side. He always kept some extra clay at his side, with his shuriken and kunai. Just in case. He never thought he would actually need it.

"Fine," Sakura sighed defeatedly as she sank into the soft clay back. "This is the place–"

"What makes you think I'm listening, yeah?"

"Listen to me!" Sakura grabbed Deidara's hand before he could reach into his shuriken pouch. She couldn't let him demolish this area. "This is the place..." she said slowly, her mind overpowering the fear gripping her chest. She had never told anyone before, and she would rather not have to tell someone like this crazy nukenin. "...where..." She had second thoughts, but she couldn't stop. He was listening now. "...I fell in love." He looked like he was going to laugh. "This is where I first saw Sasuke-kun." Her words were coming out too quickly, but if Deidara laughed, he wouldn't be listening to her anymore. He wouldn't hear her words. This place was important to her. It was a comforting place that never changed. "He always sat here. Alone. I couldn't take my eyes off him." She couldn't take that awful smile on this blond man's face. He was going to laugh. She knew he was going to laugh at her memories! "Kasan scolded me so many times for coming home late." Her shaking voice remained solemn, even though she wanted to cry. That face. Those blue eyes watching her. She couldn't stop thinking that he was laughing inside. "Naruto was always watching him here. I watched Naruto watch him from here. I..." She didn't know what she wanted to say anymore. Her words were shifting under Deidara's cruel scrutiny. "I can't let you destroy this place!" This place held precious first memories of Naruto, of Sasuke, and of her team.

Deidara pulled his hand away to suppress a laugh. "Sounds important, yeah," he said, his eyes sparkling in memory of Sakura's words. "I'll make it even more important!" He had decided. He hadn't created any really beautiful art for almost a month! "I'll do you a favour!" He needed to see a good explosion before he went insane. But for that, he needed his good clay.

He reached for the pouch in Sakura's arms.

"No!" Sakura hugged the clay pouch tightly. If he didn't have his clay, he couldn't destroy her memories. "You're evil!"

"Who do you think I am, yeah?" Deidara tore the clay pouch from the girl. He didn't really need the pouch. He only needed the clay in the pouch, and that clay wasn't difficult to get, not when this girl was so obviously distraught.

"No!" Sakura's hands still wound tightly around the pouch. "I can't let you!"

"Let go of my pouch!"

"No!"

"Your memories are stupid, yeah!" They only annoyed him. Now he wanted to destroy this lake even more! "Why did you tell me such a sappy story anyway!" He didn't care.

"No! They're not stupid!" Sakura shouted. She refused to let go, but her hands were slipping. "Urusai!"

"Did you think it would change my mind!" He was going to blow up this place, even if he had to hurt her to do it!

"No!" Sakura could only stare as the pouch slipped from her fingers. "Deidara, I just wanted you to like m–" Her hands flew over her mouth, her pounding mind deafening her ears as her wide eyes realized what she had said. That wasn't what she wanted to say!

Deidara stared, his mind blanking as the girl's words slowly registered, the pouch falling into Sakura's hands again. "This is getting complicated," he said slowly as the implication of her words seeped into his head. "I won't love you."

"That's not what I meant!" Sakura couldn't believe he had said that! He had completely misinterpreted what she had said! "I want to get along with you, not–" She couldn't bring herself to say it. She didn't want to imagine what he had already imagined. She only wanted to understand him. She only wanted him to understand her more. There was nothing else in her words!

It was selfish, but she was a selfish person. She wanted everyone to like her. She didn't like being hated. In the past, she had already dealt with so much stress from hatred. Ino... Sasuke... Orochimaru... She just wanted to avoid it now.

"Give me my pouch!" Deidara held out his hand, waiting for the girl to hand it to him.

"You're not going to blow up the lake, are you?" Sakura held the pouch tightly to her chest again.

"No." Deidara wasn't in the mood to create anything anymore.

"I don't believe you." If he was anything like Sasori, he would blow up the lake anyway.

"I said I won't!" Deidara shouted. "If I say I won't blow it up, I won't!"

"Like I'll believe a–"

But a great explosion followed by the loud rustling of leaves and stretching wood rumbled over the rest of Sakura's words. The pink-haired girl turned in the direction of bending trees, her eyes scanning over the familiar terrain. There was a fight nearby. And it wasn't on the training grounds.

"Sasuke-kun," Sakura whispered as her eyes locked onto the unmistakable buildings of the nearby Uchiha estate. "Sasuke-kun!"

"Che!"

Sakura turned quickly to Deidara, but she didn't even have to ask. The bird was already flying in the direction of the explosion.

**End Chapter 13**

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Fire's English tidbits for those who care:

The third type of deadwood: circumlocution. Now, what is circumlocution? Circumlocution is when big words and long phrases are used instead of shorter, more common words and phrases. A friend of mine had this problem. Every time she wrote an essay, she used unnecessarily big words. For example, "It came to Sasuke's attention that he might actually feel something for Naruto," is unnecessarily long. "Sasuke realized that he might like Naruto," is shorter, more specific and easier to understand. – –;; I hope that was comprehensible. What I'm trying to say is that long phrases and big words don't make your story or essay better. It just makes your writing harder to read and harder to understand, and it increases the word count unnecessarily.

Fire's babbling:

Fire: I know it's another cliffhanger. Gomen nasai, EasilyAmusedReader-san! I'm not doing this on purpose!

Sasuke: If any of you are going to review, please refrain from bloating Fire's ego. I had to rush to edit this chapter because of some of you. You know who you are!

Kisame: Um… (gestures at Fire)

Sasuke: Kuso! Fire! Don't—

Fire: Phfss…

Sasuke: (sighs) Never mind. Send in whatever you want. Fire's just going to melt down anyway.

Naruto: Ramen!

Sasuke: Stop eating ramen! It's not healthy!

Naruto: But…Itachi…

Sasuke: That bastard gave it to you? (grabs the ramen from Naruto's hand and throws it on the ground) Don't eat it! It's a trap!

Naruto: (tears) M-my ramen… Sasuke! Teme! You wasted my ramen! (strangles Sasuke)

Sasuke: (unfazed) Yeah, well, it's better than getting captured by—

Naruto: O.O

Itachi: (grabs Naruto and runs) …

Sasuke: Hey!

Kisame: Okay, I think Fire has recovered.

Fire: ;; Please no one kill me for any cliffhangers. Review! Review and prove your existence!

Kisame: You already said that.

Fire: – –;; Um…then please review. I'll give you all presents!

Deidara: Are you going to make me make torigata nendo for them?

Fire: You're making one right now, and Sasori doesn't want me throwing out any of his puppets anymore.

Sasori: It take s a long time to make a puppet, and you throw it out like it's nothing! Make Deidara work!

Fire: ;; Well, review. I promise to reply to them all!

Kisame: That's what you say every chapter.

Fire: But I will.

Sasuke: (yelling in the background) Teme! Give me back my dobe!

Fire: ;; Um…ja.

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	15. Fourteen: Fight for Red Souls

Fire: Presents for everyone! (throws nicely wrapped boxes to the audience)

Sasuke: I thought you were only going to give presents to the people who reviewed.

Fire: I didn't want to leave anyone out.

Naruto: (catches a box) ? (opens it and pulls out a plushie) Tori?

Sasuke: You made birds for everyone?

Fire: – – ;; If Deidara gave everyone torigata nendo, he might blow up all the readers.

Deidara: I wanted to give them out, yeah!

Sasori: Fire actually thought of something useful.

Fire: I think useful thoughts!

Sakura: (angrily waving a review) There will never be little Sakura's or little Sasori's running around! Get used to it!

Fire: Um…

Sakura: NEVER!

Fire: (pulls up a review) Um… (quickly reads the review)

Sasori: You think a mere closet will hold me?

Sakura: How could you think of throwing us into a closet, Luna-san? What did I ever do to you?

Sasori: I would never want to touch Sakura. (shivers disgustedly)

Sakura: Hey. It's the other way around! (tightening super-powered fists)

Sasori: (lying) You're the one jumping all over me.

Sakura: Urusai, baka! (throws Sasori into the back of the PC)

Deidara: (backs away from Sakura) I know you love me, so I'm warning you—

Sakura: I already said that I don't love you!

Deidara: You're in denial, yeah. But I'll never betray Sasori-sama for a girl like you, yeah.

Sakura: (sighs) …

Deidara: And I'm not explosive-crazy, yeah! Look what you did! You made people think that I'm OOC by making me too focussed on explosions! I wasn't too focussed on explosions!

Fire: – – ;; Um…I didn't do that on purpose. At least Sekiryu-san thinks you're more like yourself now.

Sasuke: But you _did_ do it on purpose.

Fire: …

Deidara: I was trying to do something nice for Sakura and she turned it down, yeah! You think I use C3 for just anyone?

Sasori: (glares at Deidara) …

Deidara: (looks sheepishly around) – – ;; Not that I like her or anything.

Kisame: Can we get on with the story?

Fire: But we have an unsigned review! We must answer it! (pulls up the review) Let's see… (reads)

Kisame: Kakashi's OOC-ness has a reason. We hint at it in this chapter. You'll see more of it in this story arc.

Sasuke: (sighs) Why do we have story arcs? We should just write mindless storylines that go nowhere, like all the other writers.

Kisame: Fire's weird.

Fire: Orochimaru?

Sasori: As a hitokugutsu, Orochimaru has all the abilities that he had when he was still alive. Does that answer your question, Peter-san?

Fire: And gomen. (shouting) Gomen nasai for the cliffhangers! I don't think this chapter ends on a cliffhanger, so please don't die, Forbidden-san!

Sasuke: It doesn't say Forbidden-san's dying.

Naruto: Overactive imagination.

Kisame: And Sekiryu-san, Kakashi develops his thoughts on Sasori being Sakura's love—

Sakura: (shouting in Kisame's ear) HE'S NOT!

Kisame: (dizzy) Tobi…just pull up the next chapter.

Tobi: (presses a giant red button and chapter 14 scrolls onto the page) …

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**Chapter 14: Fight for Red Souls**

'_**W**hy are you avoiding me? I searched through the weeks and months, but still I can't find you. Is it because you know, or is it because I don't want to see you? The red string that ties you to me is loosening. But with one arm, how can I knot it before you fade from reality?'_

**Y**amato glared irritatedly at the dark unmoving form atop the tatami mats. He had watched this boy for only two weeks, and he already wanted to kill him. "Get up!" He shouted, but he knew that Sasuke couldn't hear him. The dark-haired shinobi had been lying on the ground for the last three hours, and hadn't moved except to breathe and groan about Naruto. "Kuso!" Yamato couldn't believe that there were two ANBU teams watching this pathetic man!

"Naruto..." That voice again, uttering that name. It had sounded endlessly since his return from the hospital, since they were ordered to watch him.

'_Hokage-sama shouldn't be worrying over this crazy man.'_ He wasn't a threat to anyone but himself.

Yamato slowly nudged Sasuke with his foot before kicking him hard in the stomach. But even that sudden blow elicited no response...at least nothing normal. The dark-haired shinobi only curled into a ball, his eyes still closed tightly, focussed on the unmistakable image in his mind, on the jinchuuriki that refused to greet his true sight and his real hands. He could only continue muttering in empty tones the name of a man who wouldn't respond, who _couldn't_ respond.

"I thought this would be more interesting," Yuugao sighed from behind her mask. She still remembered all the trouble that Sasuke had given them over the last year, from the time he returned to Konoha to all his most recent actions. Babysitting wasn't an ANBU duty, but guarding a man who could destroy the village if left alone...she thought that it would be more complicated...more exciting...more... Not like this. Sitting and watching Sasuke's mind numbing sulking? She didn't want to do that!

Even she wanted to kick him. Hard. In the head.

"Sasuke! Look!" Yamato pointed behind Sasuke, at the shouji doors leading into the garden. "It's Naruto!"

"Don't lie to me, Yamato," Sasuke said without turning his head. He was depressed, not weak. He didn't hear footsteps in the garden, but even if he had heard pebbles crunching, Sasuke would have sensed Naruto's chakra behind him. And Naruto's chakra signature definitely wasn't behind him. "I'll kill you next time you lie to me!" Even without moving a finger, the threat was plausible.

Yamato smiled at the threat, even though he tried to stop himself from smiling at such serious words–Sasuke could easily kill him with a single glance of his sharingan–but at least Sasuke was still aware of his surroundings. He wasn't insane yet.

However, the mood didn't last. Without warning, Sasuke turned to the open shouji doors, his blazing red eyes locking onto the flight of a kunai from the garden before Yamato pushed him to the ground, deflecting the kunai into the ceiling.

"Che!" Angry red eyes landed on the masked figure. This man definitely didn't come for a warm visit, and Sasuke didn't have his shuriken or his sword with him. The ANBU and Tsunade had taken them away a while ago.

"Yamato-taichou! Get Sasuke out of here!" Yuugao shouted as she grabbed her katana from its sheath and ran toward the intruder.

"Yuugao!" Yamato threw Sasuke across the room at the woman. "Take him and run!" He wasn't a coward. He refused to run while his team faced the enemy. That wasn't what leaders did.

Wood tentacles stretched from the garden, springing past Sasuke's flying body and back to wrap around the intruder's limbs as the dark-haired boy crashed into the purple-haired woman's arms. Sasuke only saw the scrolls of wood tightening around their prey as his body flew backwards through the inner halls of his home.

**A**s the dark haired shinobi landed in the ANBU woman's arms, Tobi glued his sight on the dark form, pulling him forwards before his target could get away. His hands reached for the dark-haired shinobi, less than an expanse from the boy's arm. His fingers clawed forwards, almost curling around his shirt. But before he could grab the key to the jinchuuriki, his body lurched back, wood wrapping around his torso, throwing him backwards.

"Che!" Tobi tore through the thick cuffs of wood, kicking the tentacle away before it could dig into his flesh again. Knots of wood leapt at him, cascading through the air. Claws spiralled past Yamato, snapping at Tobi, grasping only a kawarimi before smashing violently enough into the ground to send a shock wave through the air. Tree limbs crashed through the halls, chasing the intruder as the Akatsuki minion raced after Yuugao and Sasuke. Yamato couldn't let him get away. He couldn't let him get Sasuke.

But as the first flaking pieces of bark reached the dim sunlight and the bulk of its body sprouted from the doorway, it crashed into only air. Tobi had vanished, reappearing to grab hold of the Uchiha. He had finally caught him.

"Get your hands off Sasuke-kun!" Sakura yelled as she fell from the sky, landing on the man's head and burying it in the ground.

"Don't jump off the bird, crazy woman!" Deidara shouted from the sky as the bird spiralled down. _'She should be more careful, yeah!'_ If she hurt herself, Sasori was going to hold him responsible. "You should be more caref–" And his eyes landed on the man in the ground. Those clothes... That face... The annoying flailing of his arms... It was Zetsu's damned subordinate! _'Teme!'_ His hands were already chewing on explosive clay. He knew what this bastard was trying to do. _'Shi-ne!'_

Kumogata nendo dropped from the sky, swarming unstoppably forwards. As Tobi wrenched his head from the ground, they were already on him, sending him stumbling backwards with kamikaze explosions. He couldn't fight Deidara. He was avoiding this from the beginning.

Tobi backed away and evaporated into the air before the blond man could come any closer.

"Che!" Deidara looked away, annoyed with the minion's cowardice. He wasn't expecting to actually kill Tobi today, but it would have been a good way to cheer himself up after losing the opportunity to beautify this area earlier. And he would have been doing a favour for Zetsu too. That minion had been overstepping his bounds lately. "Baka!" Deidara said as he dropped from the sky, landing at the pink-haired girl's side. His eyes glared angrily at Sakura. "If you want to kill it, I'll do it, yeah. You don't have to jump around like a–"

"You're concerned," Sakura said, calmly interrupting with a sarcastic smile as she turned from the Iwa-nin. "I'm flattered." He was feigning concern. She knew it. She just didn't expect it to annoy her as much as it did at that moment. First, he was referring to her child as _it._ Second, kind words coming from a nukenin was creepy.

"Deidara!" Yuugao leapt at the Iwa-nin, her katana flying at the man. "Step slowly away from Sakura-san!"

"And there is no gratitude for saving the young lady," the blond nukenin sighed with a melancholy shake of his head. He wasn't even a little intimidated by the ANBU woman and her sword. "In her condition, she could have really hurt herself, yeah."

"I don't care about her condition," Sasuke said darkly, his expression coldly indifferent to what was happening.

"You should."

"Deidara, urusai!" Sakura had forgotten to tell Deidara not to say anything about it. She hadn't told Sasuke yet. But even Deidara knew about her condition. He was there, in her living room, when Tsunade told everyone else.

"Nothing about her concerns me." Sasuke turned, his eyes refusing to land on the pink-haired girl. The wood that had grown around his house was already subsiding, slowly sinking away. "She's Naruto's friend." That was all he was to her.

The dark-haired shinobi's words sliced cleanly through Sakura, leaving her wounded without staining themselves with her jealous blood. _'I'm nothing to him.'_ The only man she ever loved didn't care about her. He didn't even acknowledge her. She was his teammate! _'Look at me!'_ The world spun, her head flying off her shoulders as his words vibrated through her brain. She's Naruto's friend. _'Please, look at me!'_ Sasuke didn't care. He really didn't care. "Sasuke-kun..."

"Sakura!" Yamato finally emerged from the reappearing house in time to see the girl collapse. "What happened?" The trees around them crept around Deidara as his eyes fell onto the nukenin. "Yuugao!"

"Don't kill him, Yamato-taichou. That man's Sakura's guest," Sasuke said calmly as he walked into his house again. He was sure that Yamato got the message from the Hokage...even if he was pretending that he hadn't.

The ANBU taichou looked back at the retreating dark-haired boy before allowing the creeping vines to fall to the ground. Sasuke had changed again. Before, he was crying about Naruto. Before that, he was agonizing over Sakura. And now...now his behaviour was cold. As cold as it was when they met him in Kusa no Kuni.

"Guest?" The Iwa-nin was Sakura's guest? The message from the Hokage had said that Deidara was in the village, that he was with Sasori, and therefore with Sakura as well, but he never thought that he was a _guest._ Being a _guest_ implied that he was actually _wanted. _

He didn't want to think about it.

"Ahem. Then..." He didn't quite know what to say to him either. "...get her to the hospital!" He didn't know why there were all still standing there! He turned around and vanished into the house before he could dwell further on the true nature of Deidara's stay at the Haruno household.

**T**hin sunlight marked Kakashi's body, darkening the already grim shades of his clothing. Cold winds blew around him, sending his body shivering stiffly, but he still couldn't go inside, even though his skin was already frozen. The flames of anger still hung around his head. So, he thought that the night could cool it, could hold him to sanity. _'It's not Sasori. It's not Sasori.'_ He repeated the words in his head until he believed it. It couldn't possibly be Sasori. Sakura would never let him touch her!

It couldn't be Sasori. Sasori wouldn't do it. He couldn't do it.

The thought ran around Kakashi's head, driving him insane. But it was all he could do to keep himself from believing his fears. If Sasori was the father... If he was...

Kakashi shook his head in disbelief. No. Sakura's father wouldn't allow Sasori to touch her. He would kill her before he allowed anything like that beneath his roof. He would rather kill his own daughter, and knowing Sakura, she would rather die. That was why he was Kakashi's greatest fear since he realized the emotions he held for his student.

Her father.

Never. That man would _never _allow Sasori near Sakura. Kakashi knew. If _he _couldn't impress Sakura's parents, Sasori definitely couldn't. It was impossible. A man like that... A man born with the ideals of Sunagakure no Sato... Sakura's father would never accept it.

He couldn't accept it!

That was why he didn't accept it. Kakashi pushed at the thoughts, reasoning through his teeth. And slowly, the theory receded until the masked jounin could grasp reality again. The thoughts sank until he couldn't see it anymore. And he could finally run from the setting sun and the cold air seeping through his body into his chest.

**S**asuke collapsed in his house, alone again. Miraculously, there was no damage from the trees that had grown around every room and corridor only a moment ago. "Kuso." He knew something like that would happen eventually. There was no point trying to cover it up with jokes. It wasn't like him and it was tiring. He didn't like it.

'_Sakura...'_ He didn't want to see her. As soon as he walked into his home, the memories flooded his mind again. The last time they were together... What he had done to her... It was all fresh in his mind! He could never face Naruto again. Naruto would never forgive him. Not for... Not for...

"Kuso!"

He had never wanted to see Naruto more than at that moment. He only wanted to pull him into his world and lock him in his arms. He wanted to be with Naruto. He _really _wanted to be with Naruto. He _only _wanted to be with Naruto.

"Naruto..." He knew. It was impossible not to know after seeing her. Even a blind man would have noticed. Even if Kakashi hadn't come running with his problems at the edge of his lips a few days earlier, he would have noticed at that moment.

And Naruto would have yelled at him, as he had so many times before.

Sasuke tore Naruto's hitai-ate from the table, the same place it has been since the day Naruto moved into his house. And threw it across the room, lodging it deep into the crumbling walls. He didn't care that his house was falling apart. He didn't want to constantly remind himself of Naruto. Of what Naruto would do if he was here.

He had forgotten all about Sakura until she fell from the sky into his mind. He never wanted to remember it. He didn't want to know about it. Sakura would definitely use this to annoy him later. Fangirls were constant annoyances. Even though it wasn't his child... Even though it couldn't possibly be his child... She would use it to control him!

Naruto would probably be happy if he was in this situation. The blond shinobi never thought about consequences. Anything that would tie him to Sakura would be welcome.

"Naruto..." Sasuke whispered as he crumbled to the ground, his fingers pulling through his black hair. "Gomen." But even that pain wasn't enough to dispel the anxiety spreading within him, the emotions gripping tightly and ruthlessly around his chest until he choked to the ground. That knowledge still stood on his chest, weighing on his heart's memory. He couldn't forget. "I'm a horrible boyfriend." Even if Naruto was dead, Sasuke couldn't excuse himself for hurting the pink-haired girl. For hurting Naruto's Sakura.

Of all the people in Konoha, it had to be Sakura! If it was anyone else, Naruto wouldn't care. They could find a way around it. Naruto would forgive him! But with Sakura... With Sakura, it was different. Naruto loved Sakura! Naruto would never forgive him for hurting Sakura!

Never!

**T**he screaming shook their nerves, even though it had already endlessly disrupted the air for a while. "What's wrong with him?" Yuugao stood at the edge of the room, cleaning her sword. Her eyes watched the dark-haired chuunin writhe at the other side of the room, screaming as if he was the only person there. She doubted that he even realized they were in the house anymore.

"He's having a mid life crisis."

The ANBU woman continued to watch, her ears catching the rare shaky whispers of Naruto through the tormented screeches. "He's too young to have a mid life crisis," she noted, even though she was slightly amused. She couldn't stop enjoying his agony. She couldn't kill Orochimaru who was already dead. She didn't have a hand in destroying Oto no Sato. She couldn't do any of that with her own hands. Not to avenge Hayate. But this tiny Orochimaru... She could somewhat ease her pain with his suffering.

Even if she agreed that it wasn't the right thing to do.

"I know." Yamato's word came after a long moment of silence. Sasuke was truly too young to have a mid life crisis. But all men had crises when he unintentionally hurts the one he loves.

**T**he usually crowded hospital halls quickly emptied as soon as they saw Sakura. Everyone still remembered what had happened not long ago, and they didn't want to be caught up in her tornado of evil chakra again. So, it wasn't difficult for Deidara to bring Sakura to the ICU.

"Don't touch me! Put me down!" Sakura shouted angrily, not at all happy about Deidara rushing her to the hospital because she had stumbled dizzily! "Besides, we should be going to the maternity ward, not the ICU!" She smacked the blond man in the head for his stupidity.

Deidara growled angrily at the girl. He was about to throw her to the ground...when a voice behind them said, "She's right." The Iwa-nin turned to see a brown-haired chuunin staring back at him. "She should go to the maternity ward."

"Don't correct me, yeah!" Deidara shouted at the young man, redirecting his anger from Sakura–especially since Sasori wouldn't hurt him for it–to the newcomer. He didn't need a Konoha-nin telling him what to do!

"I don't care! I'm going on my own!" Sakura pushed herself frustratedly from the nukenin's grasp and walked away.

"So did you figure it out on your own or did she tell you?" He saw it as soon as Deidara came running into the hospital. The Iwa-nin knew Sakura's secret. A nukenin carrying Sakura into the hospital for something small was too unlikely to comprehend.

"The Hokage told us."

"And did she tell you who the father is?" Shikamaru was curious. Ino had come to visit him and had talked nonstop about it, even though she didn't know either. But she told him all the latest boring gossip about who it could be. If he didn't have something to say later, she would never stop talking.

And he also wanted to know.

"No." Deidara didn't want to say it, but he suspected his ex-partner. That man was capable of anything now that he was human. And he wasn't acting like himself lately. All these human emotions were really changing him. He didn't think about girls when he was a puppet, but now... "I don't want to know!" Sasori was too close with this girl. It was disturbing to see a man who used to be so cold-hearted suddenly so nice. The Sasori he knew was nowhere in this strange village.

It made him sick.

And the whole time Deidara stood lost in his thoughts, Shikamaru watched, his sharp eyes gathering inescapable data. "At least I know it's not you," he mused.

The mystery only continued. Shikamaru didn't want to believe that it could be Kakashi-sensei or Sasori–like the rumours said–but both of them had become really close with Sakura lately. However, he still didn't want to think that one of them would actually...

He was missing something. There was a face in this picture that he hadn't seen.

"I'm going back to my room." Shikamaru left before his mind could catch onto something he didn't want to think about. "The maternity ward is one floor up, if that's what you were wondering."

Deidara didn't say thank you, even though, at that moment, he really was wondering where the maternity ward was. He didn't have to ingratiate himself to a boy. He only glared at the chuunin's retreating back until he was gone.

**End Chapter 14**

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Fire's English tidbits for those who care:

Tautology! This is the fourth and last kind of deadwood. It is also the most annoying type of deadwood. Tautology is easier to spot than the other kinds of deadwood. Simply, it is the unnecessary repetition of a concept. However, this is different from typos. Typos are when words are repeated, like "Naruto was blond blond." The repetition of "blond" is a typo, but it isn't considered a kind of tautology. The two most common forms of tautology is 1) the modification of a noun by an adjective; and 2) with verbs. For example, "In Tanzaku Gai, Naruto received a free gift." Free gift is considered an unnecessary repetition of a concept, and therefore a tautology. If you paid for a gift, it wouldn't be a gift; therefore, gifts are always free. So the adjective "free" is a repetition. The second example is "The Kyuubi often recalled the memory of his fight with Yondaime to remind himself why he shouldn't help Naruto." Recall means to remember, and memory means something that is remembered. This is also a repetition. Sometimes, repetition isn't obvious, so keep your dictionary nearby. If you've never looked up the word, you can't be sure that what you think it means is its true meaning.

Fire's babbling:

Yamato: I think that's the last time we're going to be appearing in this story.

Yuugao: But I want to kill that tiny Orochimaru!

Sasuke: Do I look like Orochimaru to you?

Yuugao: …

Fire: Of course you do!

Sasuke: (glares at Fire) …

Shikamaru: How long am I going to be in the hospital? It's already March. – – ;; I've been in the hospital since January.

Sasuke: (angry and annoyed) Forever!

Shikamaru: O.O Nani?

Sasuke: (glaring at Shikamaru with sharingan eyes) You heard me.

Naruto: Waah! Sasuke! Don't yell at my friends!

Sasuke: Hn. (turns away from Shikamaru) He should be grateful that I didn't kill him already.

Naruto: Um…you mean in the story, right?

Sasuke: …

Naruto: Sasuke?

Sasuke: …

Fire: ;; Well, I'm going to explain a few things now. Um… (looks around nervously)

Kisame: Selective memory loss?

Fire: Oh! Yes! Selective memory loss. That's what Sasuke's suffering from in the story. He remembers, then he forgets, then he remembers again. That's why he's different every time we see him. Isn't that interesting?

Kisame: Like your memory loss?

Fire: No! I still remember a few things. – – ;;

Sasori: For those of you who don't know Fire from the forums, and so don't know any personal information about Fire no Kumo—

Sakura: Fire doesn't remember anything from before ten years old.

Fire: – – ;; You're making me sound insane.

Kisame: But you're as ruthless as I am.

Fire: You don't have to put it like that.

Kisame: And even more heartless.

Fire: That's impossible! You don't have a heart! I still feel _some_ emotions!

Kisame: At least I'm not sadistic.

Fire: …

Sasuke: Review now. Review before these random words get any longer.

Sakura: When's Kakashi-sensei coming back from his vacation?

Sasori: I'm standing right here. You don't need that shinobi reject!

Deidara: (nodding in agreement) He _is_ really weak, yeah.

Naruto: We defeated _you_!

Deidara: That was a fluke!

Fire: Um…ja?

Itachi: Don't shout at the jinchuuriki.

Deidara: …

Naruto: Good! Now, Itachi, kill him!

Itachi: …

Sasuke: You really thought that would work?

Naruto: – – ;; It would have been interesting.

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	16. Fifteen: I am not the Father!

Sasuke: Hm…I think some readers are angry.

Fire: – – ;; I knew it.

Kisame: You should have made it more clear.

Fire: – – ;; Gomen nasai.

Sasuke: The holidays were on July 1st, July 2nd and July 4th. That meant the most convenient time to upload is on the 5th.

Fire: Anyway, uploading at different times of the week allows for new readers who don't check new stories or chapters everyday. So, let's ignore that road bump!

Sai: You're putting me in the story, Fire-san?

Fire: (nods) Yes, Sai is here! He's going to be playing a supporting role. That means he'll be around a lot, but he won't be an integral part of the storyline.

Tobi: Like me.

Fire: ;; You make it sound like a bad thing, Tobi.

Yamato: If any of you were confused about what I said in the last chapter about Sasuke hurting the one he loves, I was talking about Naruto, not Sakura.

Fire: I'm elaborating in this chapter so that everyone can follow along.

Sakura: Nani? But— I thought—

Sasori: And I'll finally get to kill Kakashi.

Fire: That's not going to happen.

Sasuke: Maybe.

Fire: …

Sasuke: Are you arguing against it?

Fire: Kakashi can't die. He's a main character.

Sasuke: You killed Naruto! Naruto's a main character too!

Fire: But the storyline says he has to be dead! (waves the script at Sasuke) See! Dead!

Naruto: Ano-sa! Ano-sa! Look at the unsigned review! (hands the review window to Fire)

Fire: Naruto, this is a signed review.

Sasuke: I'm not schizophrenic! It's a defence mechanism!

Fire: – – ;; Sekiryu-san and Aurora-san, it's exactly what you think. Sasuke is extremely traumatized by Naruto's death. Remember that Sasuke died right before Naruto died. He doesn't even know that he killed him. Imagine how much worse—

Sasuke: Ahem!

Fire: ;; Oh, yes. Spoilers. Um…just know that you're on the right track. If you're confused about what's happening with Sasuke's mind, I might write a medical report to explain it. But it's just more psychology.

Tobi: And… (pulls a review window from the Big Bag of Reviews)

Fire: And moral support is still very welcome. Domo arigatou, Forbidden-san to Peter-san.

Sasuke: That's Japanese again.

Fire: – – ;; Um…let's just get on with the story.

Kisame: Pull up the next chapter, slave!

Tobi: – – ;; Slave?

Sasuke: You can still be replaced.

Tobi: (runs out of the window and returns with chapter 15) …

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Advertisement: Getting confused by Fire's uploading schedule? Go to the user profile for explanations on any and all reasons for deviations from the norm. Also, the glossary is updated once a week. For terms not included in our glossary, please feel free to email or PM your questions. Or find a friendly online dictionary. But live dictionaries are better. I'll do everything from detailed explanations to examples on how to use it in a sentence as well as known derivatives. (I felt like putting up an ad. I'm not making any money off it, but I get hits. )

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**Chapter 15: I am not the Father!**

'_**R**ed string ties me tight to you, and even tighter to our destinies. A red string of brittle lives and fragile lies. But no one can escape from Fate, no matter how hard they try. Soon it will come and catch me. Soon I can no longer be with you. So try to escape. Fight against Fate. Hold hope in your hands. But I will never see it. My future was decided as soon as I came to be with you.'_

**C**old air wrapped itself around Sasori as pain consistently chewed through his body, but it wasn't enough to numb the lingering effects of Sakura's only blow. He held his stomach, refusing to curl against the bleeding sting of shoulder blades lodged in his gut. However, those wing-like apparatuses weren't literally lodged in his stomach; it was what the uncomfortable nuisance felt like. His hands only met flat muscle, even though the shock of skin tearing from flesh almost made him roll from the cliff, down the waterfall into the river below.

'_Sakura!'_ He knew as soon as his mind cleared enough to think it. She was torturing him on purpose! _'What is she doing?!'_

The Suna-nin pushed himself from the ground, the anger that held him for a moment subsiding as his fingers focussed on the sensation of brushing fine dirt from his clothes. But he didn't have time to reacquaint with his senses. He needed to find Sakura!

They didn't share pain. Their bond wasn't like that, and Sasori couldn't be more thankful. He could already imagine the kind of physical and mental anguish he would have to go through when she goes into labour. Just thinking about it made him shudder. He had enough pain to deal with.

So, the stabbing filling his body was a constant surprise. _'Hey! You're not supposed to come here!'_ He shouted at the pain invading his body. _'Go back to Sakura and tell her that she made a mistake!'_ But it wasn't as if the pain would listen.

"Sakura!" Sasori shouted as soon as he ran through the front door into the house. She was on vacation, so she couldn't be in the hospital. She had to be home! "Sakura?" But she wasn't there. The house was empty. _'Kuso onna!'_ He couldn't believe she wasn't home! If she wasn't here, where could she be?

The answer rose slowly in his mind as the names of Konoha shinobi rushed through his mind. But the only name that stood out was Hatake Kakashi. He hated that man! There was no way he could forget that man. If Sakura really wanted to hurt him, she would go to that man!

"Kakashi!" Sasori ran through the streets, his angry eyes scanning the crowds for any hint of grey hair. Many times, he thought he saw Kakashi in the crowded streets, but as he drew closer, it always turned out to be someone else. "Kakashi!" Sasori grabbed a man from the crowd. The man was running, but the Suna-nin didn't care if he was in a hurry! Nothing could be more important than Sakura! _'I didn't just think that!'_

The redhead exploded into full panic at the thought, but he had to put it off until later. It wasn't Kakashi. Again.

"Ino!" Sasori realized that he had somehow wandered to Yamanaka Hana and the blond girl was staring at his shouting. "Where's Sakura?" He knew he couldn't find Kakashi. But Sakura was with him! He already knew that Sakura was with that horrible man. There was no use lying to him. "Kakashi..." Sasori growled so that even Ino backed away a few steps. "Don't even try to hide her!"

Anger. There was a lot of anger in the Suna-nin's voice, but Ino refused to be shaken any further. She only smiled and said, "Hospital," plainly as she turned to her flowers once more. "She's in the hospital."

Ino didn't even have time to tell him what had happened.

Sasori's mind ceased to think for a moment before turning and running toward the hospital. He couldn't believe it. _'Again?'_ But Ino always had accurate information. She loved gossip, but she wouldn't tell him a lie. "What did she do?!" He wasn't even surprised anymore. There was only the feeling that she did something very stupid.

"Sasori no Danna!" Deidara shouted from the hospital entrance as the redhead neared. "Your..." _'Wife? Girlfriend?'_ "...master did something very stupid, yeah."

After Deidara briefly explained what had happened to Sakura, all the medic-nin came to talk to Sasori. The redhead didn't know why they were all crowding around him, especially since the girl's parents were probably worrying in the hospital as well–and they would probably yell at him later for not being there to watch over her–but whatever it was they were trying to say, it was annoying. He didn't need to know that everything was fine. He could care less! If everything was fine, stop talking to him! He knew that everything was fine! There was no fear or panic coming from Sakura, and he wasn't dead yet!

"And the baby's not in any danger," the medic-nin said with minor nervousness tinging his voice. "So you don't have to worry, Akasuna-san."

'_Kuso! Why are you telling me this?'_ He didn't need to know! He just wanted to see Sakura!

**I**n the vast emptiness filling the Hokage tower, frustration sighed from the Hokage's office. Tsunade didn't know what to do with the inventory records. It was correct, but Sakura had implied so strongly that she wanted to keep her condition a secret for a while longer–even if her father's rash actions immediately after learning of her secret had already driven rumours through the village–that she didn't know what to do.

'_I should just leave it alone,'_ Tsunade decided. It was an inventory record of all the hospital's drugs. If she did anything to it, the numbers wouldn't be correct anymore. And it would be too confusing later if they thought someone was stealing medicine...especially when Sakura's name was right there!

But that was what made this dilemma even more tiresome.

The blond woman turned away from the records to a different problem. Kakashi. She had sent him on a mission a week ago, so he should be returning home soon. And she would have to worry about his clashing with Sasori. She knew there was definitely going to be a fight between those two. With what Sakura told her when Tsunade was at the hospital a few moments before, there would definitely be a fight.

'_Sakura...'_ She couldn't imagine why her apprentice would decide to say something like that...but she had to trust her...even if those words could tear everyone apart.

**S**asuke lay at the edge of the walkway, his legs dangling over the wood edge, hitting the large tiles of stone leading into the garden. Even the melodic sound of the bamboo fountain couldn't ease the relentless thoughts filling his mind with the knowledge of what he had discovered. "Naruto..." he whispered, turning his head into the warm non-existent lap. "Gomen."

From above, the apparition of Naruto frowned down at the dark head hugged against his chest. Slowly, he ran his fingers through the Uchiha's soft black hair. _'But you're happy.'_ Naruto knew that Sasuke was happy. _'You'll have everything you ever wanted.'_ Because he could never give Sasuke children, the Uchiha clan would have died with Sasuke.

"Kuso! Naruto!" Sasuke growled, clutching Naruto's legs even though there was really nothing but wood beneath his hands. "I wanted to be with you! I wanted to have kids with you!" Actually, he wanted to deny what he had done. Because if he admitted this as the truth, Naruto would be angry. "Someone else could have done it." Naruto _was _angry. Sakura was a shaky topic. Even if Naruto said he no longer loved her, the past kept coming back to them. "I betrayed you."

The dark-haired man wrapped his arms around Naruto's waist, burying his head comfortingly in the soft torso. It was a betrayal. He had betrayed everyone with his desires. Naruto would never forgive him for hurting Sakura. Naruto would never forgive him for betraying him. He had abandoned her so easily to be with Naruto. He had torn her heart from her body as easily as his own was torn from his body. For all that pain, Naruto would never forgive him.

He could never regain his perfect happiness again.

When he died, he was so happy. It wasn't that he had finally killed Itachi. It wasn't that his goals had finally been accomplished. That wasn't it.

It was because he knew that Naruto loved him.

Nindo. Naruto's nindo. Knowing that Naruto came–in spite of promising that he would wait for his return in Konoha–had calmed the uneasiness in his heart at not being able to keep his promise. Dying in Naruto's arms... Dying with Naruto... That was his moment of true contentment. At that moment, he was able to forget the blood of his ancestors fading into death with his last breath.

He never thought that he would be trying to find it again.

"Naruto, I betrayed you." Having returned from death without him...abandoning him for life...was more painful than anyone could imagine. He would have been happier being a mindless summoned puppet forever. "Please, forgive me."

But no matter how much Sasuke pleaded, there was no answer from Naruto. The ghost could only hold him, smile, and tell him that everything was going to be okay. Sasuke's mind was too occupied to think of asking for anything more.

**Y**uugao watched irritatedly for a moment before deciding against cutting the dark-haired shinobi's throat. She wasn't sure if it was the right course of action, but she couldn't argue against Yamato-taichou or Hokage-sama's decision. She could only leave the estate and hope they weren't going to regret it later.

And of course, she could look away.

"He doesn't know that you're not Naruto," Yamato said, surprised at his own words. "Hokage-sama said that you can adequately monitor Sasuke." The ANBU taichou sighed. He really didn't want to hand over an obviously unstable man. "So, I'm handing him to you, Sai."

"Shinpainai," Sai said as he looked nervously at the dark head buried in his torso. He couldn't even begin to figure out how to get him off. _'I must have been insane to request this mission.'_

But he couldn't think of any other way to help. Since Sasuke's return to Konoha, he had watched from the shadows, wondering how he could help his former teammates. And this was all he could think of. He couldn't run away when everyone else was hurting. That wasn't the kind of man he had become.

"I won't let you down."

**S**akura stared at the ceiling, her mind sending the signals for her body to move. But she couldn't get up. Deep within her mind, she knew that she didn't want to get up. Her arms and legs leadened with foreboding. Even if he didn't act as if he knew, Sasuke knew. Those red eyes can see everything. He had to know by now. Her condition... She...

She couldn't say it! She still couldn't say it! She couldn't even think it! Her condition... She couldn't imagine it as anything else. It was just a different state. She hadn't even thought of a name for it yet. She didn't even know its gender.

'_I'm already a horrible mother.'_

"Sakura," Sasori hissed as he walked into the room, thoroughly annoyed. "Is there something you want to tell me?" Anger laced his words. All the medic-nin kept telling him that the child was fine when the child shouldn't have been in danger in the first place!

"Sasori?" Sakura's mind knew immediately what he wanted to know. "It was nothing. I leapt–" She stopped before she could continue any further, her easygoing face drawing to a close as she realized that she couldn't tell him. If he knew that she had leapt off a torigata nendo, he would yell at her. He would definitely yell at her. _'But what am I thinking?! Sasori would never worry over me!'_ She reconsidered. "You wouldn't care anyway. Why are you asking?"

"I was talking about this!" He waved Sakura's hospital report at her. "Aren't you going to tell me about this?!" He had read it, and he understood more than the doctors thought. He was a genius! Did she think she could hide her reckless activity from him?!

"The patient is sleeping!" Sakura curled the hospital's immaculately white blankets around her body as she spoke. "Come back later."

"You're not asleep!"

"..."

"Sakura!"

"..."

"Sakura! Wake up, kuso!"

"..."

"I know you're not asleep!"

"..."

"Sasori-san, Sakura-senpai is sleeping. Please refrain from disturbing her," Kaori said, her expression a little shaky at having to be the one to talk to the ex-nukenin. But none of the other nurses dared to go near the Suna-nin when he shouted like that. Even though Sakura had said that he was harmless, he still emitted a dangerous aura. If she said the wrong thing, he would definitely kill her.

The redhead stared at the pink-haired girl for a moment, his heart pounding with rage at her deception. He wanted to strangle her even more than before! "..." But he turned without a word. If she didn't want to talk to him, she wasn't going to talk to him. There was nothing he could do to change it.

"Sakura-senpai will only be in the hospital overnight for observation. She should return home tomorrow," Kaori added in the hopes of easing the angry atmosphere floating over Sasori's head. If she was the cause, she definitely wouldn't live to see the next sunrise.

"I'll wait for her at home." Sasori's words were cold. She would explain why she collapsed when she returned home.

"Ja...ne." There was something the nurse wanted to say to him. As the Suna-nin walked away, she turned back and forth reluctantly so he knew there was something she wanted to say to him, but she didn't say it. Kaori just allowed him to walk away.

'_But shouldn't he be worried about the baby?'_ The woman couldn't help wondering about it. _'Sakura-senpai said that he's the father.'_

**F**rom the moment Sasori left Konoha Hospital to the moment Sakura returned, for those twenty-four hours, Sasori was annoyed. He heard the front door close and her voice call out, "Tadaima!" But he ignored it. He was ignoring her. _She _was ignoring _him _earlier. She couldn't expect him to forget it so quickly. She couldn't expect him to happily call out okaidi as if nothing had happened.

Besides, he wasn't harming her in any way.

"Hey!" She stared down at the redhead sitting on the couch. The living room filled with her irritation. "I was calling for you!"

"Hn." He wasn't going to acknowledge her.

"I know you can hear me!" Sakura smacked the man in the head. "Shannaro!"

"Have you no manners?" Sasori said coldly, "Is this how you address your superiors?"

"Of course," the pink-haired girl said through grating teeth. "How can I forget?" Sakura grabbed the Suna-nin angrily by the collar and threw him across the room. "I forgot I was talking to a senile old man!" Just because she was pregnant didn't mean she couldn't throw him across the room, or use her superhuman strength. "Obey your master! Who's your superior?!" He couldn't possibly still be angry about what had happened the day before. It was ridiculous! This man was over thirty years older than her! He wasn't a kid!

"Your father has been glaring at me all day," Sasori said in an attempt to change the subject. It has been annoying him all day, and he _was_ annoyed in spite of his straight face. He didn't care about her dangerous antics anymore. He just wanted to know... "What did you say to him?" There was something. He knew there was something. She had to have done...said...something! Sakura's father didn't usually show his hatred...not to this extent. "And..." Sasori watched Sakura take his untouched cup of green tea from the table. "...your mother put poison in the tea."

Sakura looked at the suspicious cup of cold tea, then stared at the redheaded man for a moment before placing the cup onto the table again. "You're being paranoid," she said with a slightly nervous laugh. Her parents hated Sasori, but they wouldn't go to this extent! Although...

The pink-haired girl turned her head slightly toward the kitchen where she could covertly see her mother preparing supper.

...the woman was obviously trying to appear as if she wasn't eavesdropping on their conversation. "Never mind," she sighed. Actually, her parents were just the kind of people who would try to kill Sasori if he was annoying them. Killing a nukenin wouldn't exactly be considered murder. They _could _be hailed as heroes.

"So get away from me before they decide to use more obvious methods," Sasori said suddenly, startling Sakura. It was strange. He wasn't feeling fear. _'What is this strange emotion?'_ He had never felt this before!

Slowly, he panicked over the new discovery. She was making him human. And it scared him.

"You're concerned about me," Sakura said with a smile as she calmed herself, not sure if she should be afraid of this concern or not. Sasori was definitely different from the first time she met him. Back then, the idea of his sitting at her side, without a hint of menace, was impossible. She didn't quite know how to react to this new Sasori.

She couldn't predict exactly what he would do anymore.

Sasori fell back at the revelation. _'Concern?'_ Another new emotion! He had never felt concerned before! _'Kuso!'_

"But," Sakura said, oblivious to the panic at her side as she turned with a suddenly serious look to Sasori. "If you're really concerned about me, you can do me a favour."

Sasori's hands dug tightly into the sides of his seat in an effort to stop himself from backing away. He didn't like to admit it, but Sakura was scary. At that moment, Sakura was really scary. "Sakura?"

"Sasori," Sakura said as she inched closer, grabbing tightly to his wrist. Her chakra infused skin stung his arm with unnecessary strength. "I know you can feel it…" ...the stress building in her chest, constricting her. She knew he could feel the ghostly hands gripping her heart. Even if he no longer obeyed her or listened to her innermost wants with avid obedience, he could still feel the emotions roiling in her chest. "You know what I mean, right?" He could still hear her thoughts.

The Suna-nin stared into the aqua-green eyes staring at him with unblinking creepiness. "S-Sakura," his voice shuddered against her warm breath on his face. "I'm not a puppet anymore. I need to breathe." She was sitting on his chest, pressing the air from his lungs. "Stress?" She was screaming it in his mind. "I can give you a massage. A full body massage!"

"Hentai!" Sakura grabbed the man by the shoulders, half-crushing him with her anger. What was making him like this? Jiraiya? Kakashi? Or is it just because he was human now? "I–" The pink-haired girl stopped, her eyes turning covertly toward the kitchen. From the corner of her eye, she saw her mother pull her ear quickly out of sight. "Sasori," Sakura whispered, bending over the Suna-nin's ear so that her mother couldn't hear or read her lips. "I want you to pretend that you're the fath–"

"No." Sasori's voice flatly refused. He wasn't even surprised. It was _definitely _something his master would do. He refused to pretend to be the father of her child! "I'm not–" Sasori stopped, his brown eyes widening with surprise as Sakura's will pressed into his mind. She was trying. Even though she knew she wouldn't succeed, she was still trying to force him to submit. "Sakura!" He growled angrily, grabbing her wrists.

But she didn't hear him. The pink-haired girl was staring avidly into space, her mind encompassed completely by her task. Within his head, her mental fingers dug, drilled deeply into his thoughts, and held tightly to the little ideas that could fit into her hands. But he wasn't letting go. He wasn't going to let her win.

"Sakura! I said no!" Sasori shouted as he shook the girl violently, hoping to draw her from her trance. She could hear him. He knew she could hear him! "Let go!"

Slowly, the girl blinked, her eyes adjusting to reality once more. Sasori's words had actually broken through her determination. "Sasori," she said slowly as she subsided from the Suna-nin's mind. "I already told people." She smiled, as if he had no choice but to agree. "You have to do it."

"I can deny it," Sasori said as he pushed the girl from his chest. She was sitting on him. Again. "I can deny it..." ...especially since it wasn't his! "You can't make me take responsibility for something I didn't do!"

"Shannaro!" Sakura growled through angry teeth. "If you're a man, take responsibility for what you did!"

"As I recall, I didn't _do_ anything." Sasori decided against arguing with the girl. She wasn't listening to him anyway. "Make Deidara do it." The last thing he needed was more people punching him for something he didn't do. He would rather have Deidara beaten to a bloody pulp than have all those people turning toward him. He wasn't as enthusiastic about reacquainting himself with pain as much as the other, better senses.

"You have to do it." Sakura's voice held complete resolve, as if there was no arguing against her decision. She wasn't changing her mind. "It can be your present to me. It's the day after tomorrow."

Sasori had no idea what she was saying. "The day after tomorrow?"

"The twenty-eighth!"

"..."

Sakura grabbed the man angrily and punched him hard across the face. "It's my birthday, baka!" She couldn't believe it. "How dare you forget!"

Sasori reached for the girl's arms, then reached again before actually catching the angry fists as they prepared to hit him. "Okay!" He didn't even know her birthday! He should have known that she expected him to know something like that. Especially when she had never told him in the first place! "Okay!" He tightened his grip until the girl stopped. "I'll do it!" She had managed to guilt him into it. He never thought he would see the day when he admitted he cared about what this girl thought. But he did. "But you have to give me something in return."

Sakura stared at the Suna-nin for a moment before her fists broke out of his grasp to punch him again. "Hen–"

"The book!" Sasori shouted before Sakura could voice her opinion of him. He didn't want to hear it again. _She _actually had more perverted thoughts that he did! "Give me the notebook!"

'_Book...'_ Sakura pulled the thin notebook from her kunai pouch. She had read it so many times that the cover was falling apart. "You mean the–"

Sasori grabbed it from Sakura's hand. "That was condition one. As for the second condition...I won't admit to fathering a child with a woman I never slep–"

"You're not touching me, baka!" Sakura glared at Sasori for even attempting to suggest something like that. "And if you ever deny that this is your child, I'll kill you!"

"Why do you want me to say this anyway? It's your belov–"

"You don't need to know!" Sakura shouted, suddenly frustrated. "And I don't want to explain it to you!" She rose from the couch. Her job was done. She had convinced him to do it. She wasn't going to talk to him any longer than she had to. He was just irritating her now. "Ja–"

"Sakura." Sasori grabbed the girl, pulling her into his lap before she could get away. Now that his question was answered, he remembered his previous question, from the hospital the day before. She was doing reckless things. "Avoiding me?" She knew that he was going to ask her about it. "Or avoiding the question?" She had to answer him sooner or later.

"Sasori..." Sakura held tightly to the anger throbbing in her chest, threatening to explode. "Hanase."

"Nani? I didn't hear you clearly." Sasori was obviously enjoying torturing her.

"I said, hanase-yo!" Sakura punched the Suna-nin again, sending him flying off the couch. The baka actually thought she was going to answer his questions! He was more delirious than she thought!

**S**akura's mother listened intently, but she couldn't make out any clear words from the other room. And she didn't care. _'I'm not listening. I'm not listening. I'm not hearing anything!'_ Her mind sang in an effort to stop herself from overhearing her daughter in the other room. The sounds of shouting and shrieking only lent more to her imagination. _'Nothing's happening!'_ The rumours hanging around after the Hokage's visit were only drilling deeper into her mind. And she didn't need to know any of that! _'Nothing's wrong!'_ She wrung her hands around cooking dinner. If she occupied her time with dinner, she wouldn't lose her mind.

**End Chapter 15**

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Fire's English tidbits for those who care:

I found another interesting fact that I want to share with everyone. What is the plural of octopus? Is it octopuses or octopi? General consensus is that either is right, but in English, the correct form would be octopuses. Now, the rest of you reading this, who say the answer should be octopi, are angry. Well, here is the proof. The origin of the word octopus is from the Greek words, octo meaning eight and pous meaning foot. Literally, this is eight feet. – – ;; A very literally name for this creature. The Greek pluralization would be octopodes. Use this or the English pluralization of octopuses, as with all other words of Greek origin. The plural octopi comes from the Latin declension of octopus, which is incorrect. The word isn't Latin in origin!

Fire's babbling:

Deidara: This is very suspicious, yeah? (nodding) I think Sasori-sama's actually in love with her.

Sasori: I can hear everything you say.

Deidara: O.O;; I mean, Sasori-sama is—

Sakura: He's following orders. Don't read too much into his actions.

Deidara: …

Fire: I'd like to clarify this part of the story. Remember that Sasori sleeps in Sakura's room. He has every opportunity to father a child with her.

Sasuke: Despicable.

Sasori: It's not really mine!

Kisame: Sasuke, speak for yourself.

Sasori: And poisoning a poisonmaster? Your parents are stupid.

Sakura: Don't say that about them!

Sasori: Besides, you'll heal me, right?

Sakura: I'd watch you suffer first.

Sasori: …

Sai: – – ;; Do I have to be here?

Fire: (nodding) Yes! I'm still analysing your personality. So you stand here! (sets Sai next to Kisame) Now I have easy access.

Naruto: Am I going to stay dead for much longer?

Fire: (avoiding the question) ;; Leave me a review and tell me what you think.

Naruto: Ano-sa! Fire!

Fire: (still ignoring Naruto) Is the story lagging? I can always edit to make it shorter and more precise. I'm foreshadowing a lot of what's going to happen over the next few chapters. I'm not sure if it's still interesting. And tell me if the characters are OOC, or if I'm off by a little bit, or if they're right on! I'm not sure at all anymore! – – ;; Some of the OOC-ness is on purpose, so don't be fooled. It's because the character has underhanded motives, so if you see OOC-ness, tell me about it, and I'll tell you if I intentionally did that.

Sai: And feel free to vote for me over Sasori. I'm officially on the ballot below Sasori-san, Kakashi-sensei and Deidara-san. (holds up the ballot and points to his name)

Naruto: (grabs the ballot and waves it) Fire! Why isn't my name on this ballot?

Sasuke: (irritated) And why is Sai's name above mine?

Fire: – – ;; Well, ja! (grabs Kisame and runs) I'll see you all next chapter!

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	17. Sixteen: I am the Father!

Sakura: Before Fire gets here, I want to clarify something.

Sai: Sasuke-kun was hugging me, not Yuugao-san.

Sakura: No, I want to say that I'm NOT THIS BASTARD'S GIRLFRIEND! WHAT PART OF MASTER DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND?! SHANNARO!

Sasori: Hm…she seems angry. All caps?

Sai: (backing away from Sakura)

Fire: It's weird how people keep asking about parts of the story that come up in the very next chapter. Kakashi will be coming back into the storyline.

Deidara: Are you going to add the other parts of Akatsuki now?

Hidan: Like me?

Fire: You look just like Grimmjow! (hugs Hidan)

Hidan: O.O;; Wh-what's this weak human doing?!

Sasuke: Baka, that's the wrong manga. This isn't Bleach!

Kisame: Giving me a break.

Fire: Okay, now I want to bring up a new question for everyone to answer. Should or shouldn't Tobi die?

Zetsu: I'm definitely going to kill him.

Sasori: I already said that subordinates who don't follow orders should die.

Deidara: You think I was going to vote otherwise, yeah? I already hate him!

Kisame: I agree with everyone else. Any reason is good for killing! (grins evilly)

Itachi: Useless. If he will only hinder our work, we should cut him from our sight. Kill him.

Hidan: I want this thing off me!

Fire: I'm not a thing!

Kisame: (grabs Fire and tears Fire off Hidan) …

Hidan: Now I'm in the mood to kill someone!

Kazuku: I'll kill—

Deidara: I'm going to kill him, yeah! (grabs Tobi)

Tobi: O.O;; I–I was only doing it for the good of the organization!

Deidara: Backstabbing weasel! You only wanted to get into the organization, yeah!

Itachi: Ahem!

Deidara: Ah, I didn't mean anything by that, Itachi-sama.

Fire: Okay, now that we have the question out, I'm just going to pull up the next chapter.

Kisame: You don't have anything else to say?

Fire: Like what?

Sasori: You don't care that Deidara's stuffing clay into Tobi's mouth? (points to Deidara stuffing kibaku nendo into Tobi's mouth)

Fire: – – ;; I guess there's nothing I can do.

Sasuke: The voting hasn't started yet! (grabs Tobi away from Deidara)

Tobi: Sasuke-sama. TT TT

Sasuke: Besides, if anyone's going to kill him, I will!

Tobi: TT TT ;;;

Fire: Remember to send in your votes. Kisame! Chapter 16!

Kisame: Do I look like your slave? (reluctantly pulls chapter 16 onto the screen)

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**Chapter 16: I am the Father!**

'_**T**he truth stares you in the eye, but you refuse to see it. Why won't you deny these obvious words of falsehood said to you? Why won't you break through these walls I've built so tall around us and liberate me from these chains? Is it because you don't care? Is it because you don't love me? Will you just leave me to this world of eternal loneliness?'_

**K**akashi walked into the village with a sigh, his face pulling out of the orange book for a brief look around. He didn't know what was going through Tsunade's mind when she assigned him this mission. Her solution to every problem was to distract him from it. He liked to put on the facade of an ignorant shinobi. It didn't mean that he didn't know what was happening around him!

But he didn't want to disappoint her. She was trying so hard to help him.

Again.

So, he reluctantly stuffed his book into his kunai pouch as the Hokage tower drew near, and tried to pretend that he didn't know that the B-ranked mission that Tsunade had assigned him was actually a C-ranked mission.

"Kakashi-sensei!" A cheerful voice called to him as he passed by the shop. "Are you heading to the hospital?" The blond kunoichi was looking after the flower shop again. Ino was often there in the late afternoon, after morning training was over.

But she usually said more comprehensible things. "Hospital?" The grey-haired shinobi could only stare confusedly at the words. Why would he go to the hospital?

"You didn't know?" Ino backed into Yamanaka Hana, trying to avoid the conversation. She didn't want to tell him if he didn't know.

"What don't I know?" Kakashi followed the blond chuunin into the shop. The dread weighing in his chest told him that he didn't want to know what she had to say, but he couldn't stop his curiosity. If she mentioned it to him, it had to be important. She wouldn't gossip about just anything.

'_Although I could be mistaken,'_ he thought as he remembered Ino's personality. Not everything she has said was the truth.

"Um...Sakura's–"

"In the hospital?" It took a moment for the words to sink in.

"Ah, but it's not very seri–" Ino reached quickly to stop the jounin sensei from leaving, but when she turned to face Kakashi, he was already gone. "Shimatta! I should have known!" The blond girl sighed. She had just ruined the Hokage's attempts at distracting Kakashi from these problems.

But Kakashi didn't care. _'Sakura!'_ He appeared in front of Konoha Hospital's reception desk, even though they weren't supposed to shunshin into the building. It was dangerous, but they wouldn't yell at him for this. He was worried. "Where's Haruno Sakura?"

The nurse at reception stared surprisedly at the grey-haired man. Where no one was a moment before, there was suddenly a frantic shinobi. "I-in..." She stuttered the words slowly, unsure of what to do. Shinobi came and went, often into and out of all departments of the hospital, but it was easy to forget their abilities when she had never seen them before. "...r-room..."

Kakashi waited patiently, his mind groaning with boredom before the answer came. And he ran as quickly as he could toward the room...long before the ominous...

"...but..."

"Sakura!" Kakashi threw open the door to his former student's room, his mind pounding with fear, with wild imagined thoughts of why she would be in the hospital. "Sak–" But the room was empty.

The masked shinobi looked dejectedly at the bare room. The empty vase by the window, the neat bedding that spoke of a patient long gone, the empty tabletops bare of gifts for the sick... She was gone.

'_And I shouldn't be acting like this!'_ He held his head tightly with shaking hands. He shouldn't have come running. It wasn't normal! He thought he had stopped these unnatural emotions. But he couldn't keep lying to himself.

He knew that it had to be Sasori's fault!

Kakashi's head pounded as he left the hospital, his uncovered eye searching through the crowds for red hair and sandy cloak...for the Suna-nin that made his bloodthirsty hands reach for his kunai pouch. He wanted to tear that man's throat out with his hands...or rip off his fingers one by one, just to hear the screams of pain.

But after a moment of aimless wandering, the masked jounin pulled himself out of his mind and sighed. He wasn't acting like himself. He felt as if he wasn't acting like himself for a long time. He shouldn't think that way! He didn't know if it was the truth yet. He didn't know if Sasori had hurt Sakura or not!

He should refrain from tearing him apart until he knew for sure.

But as soon as he pulled himself away from possible reasons for Sakura's hospitalization...again...his mind drew once more to the problem that had led him out of Konoha. He had forgotten about it until that moment. Sakura's child... Sasori... Sasori... Sasori wasn't the father! He refused to believe it. He couldn't believe it! Sakura wouldn't let someone like that touch her!

But he couldn't think of anyone else. He couldn't find anyone else in his mind! Sasuke? It was impossible! He couldn't even imagine Sasuke forgetting Naruto long enough to ignore the obvious repulsiveness of Sakura in his eyes. Sasuke would never do something like that. Not unless she was Naruto.

And Sakura was obviously not Naruto.

The masked man sighed as he tried to ignore the leers coming from the sides of the street. The rumour that he was the father of Sakura's child was hurting him worse than he thought it would. They all thought that it was his fault. The news of Sakura's physical state had spread as quickly through the shinobi ranks as the rumour about what he had supposedly done. And they all suspected him.

But he knew that he wasn't the father!

The jounin slumped defeatedly, his mind blanking as he failed to find an argument against the accusations. If he wasn't himself, he would have believed the rumours too! He knew that he was innocent, but...

He couldn't find an argument against it!

"Kakashi?"

The masked man turned slowly, his mind sighing as his uncovered eye focussed on the green clad jounin. _'Don't tell me he's going to yell at me too?'_ He wouldn't be surprised if Gai did.

"Have you seen Lee?"

'_But I guess he's occupied.'_ Kakashi shook his head at the opinion. "No," the grey-haired jounin said with all the coolness that he usually possessed. "So..." He wanted to stop himself from asking the question. "...you're not going to kill me?" But he couldn't stop himself from asking. Everyone else was trying to kill him. Even the regular citizens!

"Why?"

Kakashi stared incredulously at Gai. "Why? Well, Sakura's–" But he couldn't bring himself to say it. If he said it, he would be admitting that the rumour was true. That he was responsible for what was happening to her.

However, Gai had already read his mind, and he knew what he was thinking. "That?" He almost laughed. "You didn't hear?" He mocked him, as if he was supposed to know what was happening in the village, even when he was on a mission. The thick-browed jounin grinned with all the superiority of possessing knowledge that his colleague wanted. "Sasori's the father."

Kakashi almost collapsed. _'Sa-Sa-Sasori?!'_ His mind couldn't take it. The idea of that horrible man touching Sakura! It couldn't be true! But it _was _the truth. He couldn't ignore it anymore. No matter how much he didn't want to believe it, he couldn't stop himself from believing it now.

He had to kill him.

But it was only a rumour! He reminded himself that it was only a rumour. No one would believe a rumour, and he shouldn't believe a rumour either. He couldn't kill a man on a rumour. No. He wasn't that kind of person. He refused to become that kind of person! He refused to allow Sasori to make him into that kind of person!

"Hm...I guess you didn't know," Gai said as he turned down the street. "Now, I have to find Lee in ten minutes, or I'll have to run five hundred laps around Konoha!" He ran off before Kakashi could think of a question to ask him.

The masked man stared at the place where Gai stood only a moment before. He couldn't get his mind around that revelation. Even as he walked down the street, he could only shake his head in disbelief. It was about time he returned to the Hokage tower for his mission debriefing. But as he neared the Hokage tower, the whispers were suddenly very different. They weren't the accusations that they were a moment before. They were condolences. And he couldn't stop listening!

"Kakashi-senpai." Two shinobi that the grey-haired jounin didn't even recognize stopped him in the middle of the road. "We just heard." The unknown shinobi sighed sympathetically to his companion. "We didn't know that Sasori-san had stolen Sakura-san from you. You have our apologies. We should have known that you wouldn't be the father of her child."

And the shinobi walked away before Kakashi could even begin to understand the words enough to respond.

Kakashi stared at the retreating backs before other people walked up with their words of apology, and their words of sympathy. They were forgiving him. They were forgetting the previous rumour that had spread around him. And they were already accepting Sasori in his place.

And it annoyed him even more than if he was suffering at the fake words of the populace again. Even _he_ was beginning to believe the rumour!

Sasori had to die.

**S**ince Sakura told Ino her lie, the whole village knew. And Sasori wanted to crawl into a hole and die. The way people were staring at him was mortifying. He couldn't take it anymore! He wanted to scream at them and tell them that she was lying. How could they believe that he was the father of Sakura's child? He wasn't! He never touched her!

But it was the word of an ex-S-ranked criminal against a talented medic-nin, practically a genius asset of Konoha Hospital, someone who was trusted by the Hokage, someone who was taught _personally _by the Hokage. They definitely weren't going to believe him.

Everyone believed Sakura.

Sasori pulled his shaking hands away from his sides, away from the hidden kunai at his side. He couldn't! He refused to kill them! _'Because Sakura's the cause of all these problems!'_ He should kill _her_ instead!

But he couldn't.

That was right before his mind crumbled to the ground at the sudden revelation. _'Kuso!'_ Sakura was changing him! What was happening?! He didn't want to kill the citizens of Konoha? They were only villagers! They were useless people! He had butchered thousands of innocent people! Babies before their mother's eyes! He had gutted them mercilessly! And he didn't want to kill a few people?

Sasori pulled the kunai from his side and threw it at the first person he saw.

Which happened to be a small boy.

Not even a tiny speck of regret stained his heart as he watched the kunai fly toward its mark. He didn't care. He refused to care. He had already decided, and he had killed the last breath of remorse from his body. This boy... This innocent boy's life meant nothing!

"Sasori-kun," Kakashi said with a slight sigh, his gloved hand interrupting the kunai before it could slice through the boy's unprotected neck. "Causing trouble again?" The masked jounin turned to the boy. "Quickly, run to your mother."

The boy stared at the grey-haired man for a moment before running away.

"Still alive? A weak shinobi like you...I thought some low-grade nukenin would have killed you by now," Sasori said, his voice still purring with an air of superiority, even though he had failed to kill the child. "Should I mercifully send you to your grave?"

"I don't have a grave. _You're_ the dead man," Kakashi sighed, not sure if Sasori was just stupider since he returned to life, or if it was because he was always stupid. Or it could be because they were both geniuses. Even geniuses had standards. "You stole my line."

"As you have stolen mine," Sasori said with a slight smile. "Did you come to apologize by allowing me to kill you?" His hands had already grasped another kunai, his fingers remarking on the sharpness of the poisoned edge. He couldn't let go of wanting to kill Kakashi today

"Is it true?" And Kakashi's mind couldn't stop thinking about the question floating on the surface of his thoughts. Even though it was only a rumour. Even though hours had passed and he had already sat through a mission debriefing with the Hokage. Even though all that time had lapsed from when the thought originally surfaced. He still couldn't stop thinking about it.

"A lot of things are true. What are you referring to, Kakashi?"

The grey-haired jounin growled inwardly. The Suna-nin was avoiding the question. "Omae..." And he had addressed him directly, as Kakashi!

"Do you want me to list them?" The redhead continued speaking before Kakashi could answer, as if he already knew what the Konoha-nin was going to say. "I'm smarter than you. I'm stronger than you." He was almost counting on his fingers, watching intently for the words that would send Kakashi crumbling into despair. "I hate you, and I'm the father of Sakura's–"

Kakashi punched Sasori across the face.

Slowly, the Suna-nin turned to face the grey-haired man again, a hand smearing the blood painfully from his mouth. He forgot about pain again. He had to make a conscious effort to remember that he wasn't in a puppet body.

"Konoha gaki!" Sasori wanted to tear that man's skin off and throw him into his puppet collection, but his body wouldn't move even though his hands shook angrily over his summoning scrolls. He didn't know what was holding him back, but it had to be Sakura. It was always Sakura.

"Impossible!" Kakashi shouted, his head pounding with disbelief at Sasori's words. He had spent so much time convincing himself that he was wrong, that it couldn't be Sasori. "Sakura wouldn't– Sakura's father–"

"Doesn't hate me as much as he hates you," Sasori said with a supercilious smile. It was a lie. He only promised to say this for Sakura, and he didn't like to admit that he was the father of Sakura's child, but he wasn't opposed to hurting Kakashi with those fake words. He knew how hard a time the grey-haired shinobi has been having with Sakura's parents.

Kakashi growled irritatedly, his gloved hands tightening into angry fists. _'No.'_ But he refused to hit Sasori. Not in public. If he was going to hurt him, it couldn't be with all these eyes watching. That would only draw the rumours back to him. Tsunade had accepted this man as a citizen of Konoha. He couldn't just hurt a citizen of their village.

"I won't let you win," Kakashi hissed through stifled anger, even as he turned away. He had to control himself. If he allowed Sasori to annoy him, he wouldn't be able to stop himself. He would hurt Sakura again.

And he refused to hurt Sakura.

"You've already lost!"

Sasori's words chased after Kakashi, even as he reluctantly pulled himself away. He had to remember. He couldn't hurt this man...this man that Sakura had chosen on her own.

He couldn't hurt Sakura!

The grey-haired man ignored the taunts stabbing at his bleeding back, retreating even as his mind absorbed all the acrid words into his bitter memory to haunt him.

**W**ith the dim sunlight pooling through the gathering clouds in the sky, the small gravestones were almost unnoticeable. But it wasn't the gravestones' fault. The masons of Konoha didn't have a lot of practice carving gravestones. Most shinobi who died in missions didn't return to the village. Their bodies didn't receive graves. And the sight of the pitiful stone only further shattered Sakura's already cracked and broken heart.

The graves were completely neglected. Moss and mildew coated the grey surfaces. There was no one to clean them. Naruto was alone when he was alive. The Uchiha clan had died with Sasuke. There was only Sakura and Kakashi, and they never had time to visit. The grass was overgrown around the base of each grave marker. Even green fungi had begun creeping over the precious names that marked the end of her previous life. Even though she didn't physically die with them, she knew that the old Sakura had died when Sasuke and Naruto left this world. All that this new Sakura could do was maintain the graves until she could truly join them.

Her soapy hands held the towels tightly as they relentlessly scrubbed the stone surfaces, ignoring the blood seeping past her cracked callouses in an effort to make the mildew disappear. Her skin broke and bled, but she couldn't stop. Only recently, she began coming often, just to avoid the atmosphere at home. Every week, when she came, even if there was nothing marring the cleanliness of those graves, she scoured the gravestones until her fingers ached, and her hands couldn't hold the towels anymore. She needed it. She needed this excuse to stay away from the village, from everyone. It was the only secret that she could hold away from the rest of the village. From Sasori. From Tsunade. And the rest of the eyes watching her every move.

It was the only time she could spend with her dead teammates without reminding herself of the past, or the weights digging into her arms. These days, she could barely lift her body anymore. But memory was a horrible mistress. If she wanted to forget the creature growing within her body, she had to remember something she had tried to forget. And what she was forced to remember tore at the edges of her sanity until she screamed in agony. The bony fingers of dead men raking on the surface of her vision was enough to send her running to the only place of comfort left to her. The only place that wasn't ruined by a nukenin. She could no longer return to her previous sanctuaries.

Sakura's hands stopped, her fingers shaking weakly as the towels slipped between them to the stone surface. She couldn't hold the towel anymore. Her hands and her muscles were at their limit.

"This is why you sent Sasori-sama wandering in circles around the village, yeah? Useless if you ask me."

"No one asked," Sakura said, not even bothering to look up. Deidara was sitting above her, in a tree, watching her. But she didn't care. If he wasn't here to annoy her and intentionally ruin another of her sacred places, he was watching her because Sasori had ordered him to come here. But she didn't care about whether Sasori was watching her or not. She only cared if they got in her way. "Go and help Sasori." She had sent the Suna-nin wandering around the village for a fruit that didn't ripen in the spring. She had thought that he would take Deidara with him.

Of course, knowing Sasori, he would ask a few people before realizing that she had sent him in circles. Then he would return to say that she was a stupid woman for forgetting such an important thing as the season of the fruit.

But Sakura was still too surprised that the Suna-nin hadn't sent Deidara to do the errand to care about the Iwa-nin's annoying reaction.

"Sasori-sama already realized that it was a useless request. Did you think he wouldn't notice? He's a genius, yeah."

"If that's all you came here to say, go away," Sakura said, leaning her head against the cool gravestone. From there, her eyes clearly saw the names etched into the grey surface.

And another piece of her soul slipped away.

"I said you're not my master, yeah!" Deidara's voice held subtle tints of anger, which were completely unmistakable to Sakura. "Say that again and I'll kill you."

The pink-haired girl stared at the blond man for a moment before deciding that he wasn't any real threat. "I'm not afraid of you," she said slowly, her hands curling away from the stone surface. "Go away!"

"Aitsume..." Deidara lifted an angry fist, but shakily restrained it. He _was _going to hit her, but... Sasori said that it was his child. If he accidentally killed an Akasuna, the Suna-nin would add him to his hitokugutsu collection..._if _he was lucky.

"I thought you were going to kill me," Sakura mocked. She knew what the blond nukenin was thinking. A lot of people were avoiding her because of those thoughts. They didn't want to get involved with Sasori.

It was annoying.

She should have chosen someone else to do it. Someone other than Sasori. Lee would have volunteered if she had only asked. Or she could have asked Kakashi! Even if she didn't know where he went. But when she saw Tsunade looking at her, she had blurted out the first name that came to mind, and the news had already spread. _'Baka! Baka! Baka!'_ She just didn't want to ruin everyone's perfect vision of Sasuke!

She didn't want him to suffer because of her.

But it was also why she had chosen Sasori. It was okay for Sasori to suffer. Anyone else would have hurt her conscience.

"You thought I was serious? Sasori-sama would kill me, yeah." Deidara was glad he left his clay pouch at home. He was seriously angry. "I can't hurt Sakura." The Iwa-nin choked the words pass angry lips, because it was the truth. The Suna-nin who had practically no emotional flaw now had this weak Konoha girl. Even though he wanted to cram clay down her throat and make her into one giant stick of dynamite, he couldn't do it.

"Yosh!" Sakura looked directly at Deidara, her eyes capturing him in a sphere of obedience. "Then you won't tell Sasori about this place." It wasn't a request. It was an order. "If you do, I'll be very _hurt_." He had to agree, or hurt her and die.

And he couldn't hurt her.

**T**he grass shivered before shrivelling to the ground and stretching into smooth black cloth. Zetsu patiently watched, waiting for a response from the Iwa-nukenin. If he didn't know better, he would have thought that Deidara was seriously trying to leave Akatsuki. He never knew that the blond man was such a good actor.

But it was taking too long! He has been in this damned village since mid February! It was April now! It has been two very long, very boring months!

'_And is THAT normal behaviour?'_

'**_That's abnormal.'_** Even with imperfect vision in both eyes, Zetsu clearly saw the unnatural reaction to that pink-haired girl's request. Deidara was being too nice. **_'I'm sure that's not a nod.'_**

'_It's a nod!'_ Zetsu growled, annoyed. Deidara was submitting to a Konoha brat! He had to tell everyone about this development. It was too unusual. Too suspicious!

If Deidara had really left them, they needed to eliminate him immediately.

**End Chapter 16**

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Fire's English tidbits for those who care:

Hm…I mentioned comma splices a lot in my reviews, and some of the responses were "what is a comma splice?" – – ;; So, here a basic definition. A comma splice is also called a comma fault. It is when you join two main clauses without coordinating conjunctions. In other words, when you join two sentences with a comma instead of conjunctions (and, or, but, etc) or a semicolon ( ; ). For example, a comma splice would be "Naruto had been gone since February, his boxed ramen were just lying around Sasuke's house." Believe it or not, a lot of people make this error. To correct it, there are four ways. First, you can use a conjunction. "Naruto had been gone since February, and his boxed ramen were just lying around Sasuke's house." Second, you can use a semicolon. "Naruto had been gone since February; his boxed ramen were just lying around Sasuke's house." Third, you can split them into two sentences. "Naruto had been gone since February. His boxed ramen were just lying around Sasuke's house." Either of these choices keep both main clauses as main clauses. The other option is to change one of the main clauses into a subordinate clause. "Since Naruto had been gone since February, his boxed ramen were just lying around Sasuke's house." Or "Because Naruto had been gone since February, his boxed ramen were just lying around Sasuke's house." These are your only choices to fix comma splices. If you decide to use a conjunctive adverb like however, nonetheless, incidentally etc, the comma splice error still applies. So you'll still have to choose one of these solutions. But remember that there are always exceptions. Although comma splices cannot be used as a tool for emphasis, sometimes, short parallel independent clauses can be connected by commas alone, without coordinating conjunctions. This means that if the sentences are really short and are related to each other, commas can be used to connect them. Semicolons are also used. For example, "I came, I saw, I conquered." If you're confused about the exceptions, ignore it and stick to the rules. The exceptions can be confusing if you're not used to it. And that's all!

Fire's babbling:

Fire: Ahem, before we move on. Let me make something clear.

Ino: (pulls up a map of Konoha) The hospital is almost right next to the Hokage tower. That's why I asked Kakashi-sensei if he was heading to the hospital.

Fire: TT TT I was going to say that!

Sasuke: Moving on.

Fire: Yes! Zetsu's back!

Zetsu: Did you think I was going to let Deidara go off on his own without keeping an eye on him?

Deidara: I thought you would trust me, yeah.

Sasori: Baka.

Fire: Expect Akatsuki to come back into the storyline. They're working in the shadows, but it doesn't mean they've gone away.

Kisame: Can we leave now?

Fire: …

Hidan: Are you still hugging me?!

Fire:

Hidan: Kisame, get your leech off me!

Kisame: (grabbing Fire) You're scaring him.

Hidan: That leech burned me!

Fire: I'm not really made of fire. – – ;;

Sasuke: Send us your votes. Should Tobi die by my hands or not?

Deidara: I want to kill him, yeah! (grins evilly at Tobi)

Tobi: – – ;; Please, don't vote to kill me.

Fire: And remember to send your opinions on this chapter!

Hidan: Never touch me again!

Fire: Then I'll hug Kazuku!

Kazuku: (backs away from Fire) …

Fire: (sighs) Kisame it is.

Kisame: Hey! I'm not a consolation prize!

Fire: Of course. (hugs Kisame)

Sakura: See you all next time when I kill Sasori.

Sasuke: That's not in the script.

Sakura: Can't we add it, Sasuke-kun?

Sasuke: No.

Sasori: She's going to end up with me, right?

Sasuke: I'm not saying anything.

Fire: Ja! (waves frantically) And remember to leave a review!


	18. Seventeen: Coping in Circles

Fire: (crying) Waah! I'm so happy!

Sasuke: --;; Stop crying and get on with the story! Everyone has been waiting for a long time!

Fire: Waah! Pixel, my computer, took everything with him when he zonked out, so don't hate me! Why didn't more of you go to the profile page to see why I wasn't posting? (cries) I posted the entire story there!

Sasuke: I said post the next chapter already!

Fire: (still crying) You all probably forgot what's going on in the story!

Tobi: I'm about to kill Sasori and regain my position in Akatsuki!

Fire: (smacks Tobi in the head) No! That's not what's happening!

Sasori: Sakura finally declared her love for—

Sakura: (throws Sasori out of the window) That's never going to happen, baka!

Naruto: It's my birthday! It's my birthday again! Mina! It's my birthday!

Sasuke: We know that already.

Fire: (nodding) Yes! It has been a year since we started this series. (sighs) And we would have 52 chapters up by now if Pixel didn't zonk out!

Sasuke: Stop mentioning it already!

Fire: Anyway, I'll try to get up to date as soon as possible. That means extra uploads are coming up soon!

Sasuke: If Fire can find the time to edit it all.

Fire: Hey!

Naruto: Where are my presents? (looks around for presents)

Sakura: No presents!

Fire: Ahem. I wrote you a oneshot.

Naruto: But it's not even about me!

Sasuke: (shrugs) You have to give the fans what they want.

Fire: And I realize that the story's getting really depressing. Please bear with it. I have a point. I swear!

Tobi: And what about me?

Fire: Um...well, as you all know, Tobi's a full member of Akatsuki in the current manga. And believe me, this is NOT an AU! I hate AUs, so if you're wondering why Tobi's no longer a full member of Akatsuki, that will be explained later in the story as well.

Deidara: You thought of everything, yeah?

Fire: Of course! (dramatic pose) Now! On with the story!

Tobi: TT TT Why me? (pulls the extremely heavy chapter 17 onto the screen)

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Disclaimer: The expression "making someone into a battlefield" belongs exclusively to Fire no Kumo. Use this phrase and I'll do everything in my power to make you miserable. Please don't steal my words without asking permission first. The team of hackers and assassins at my fingertips can track you down and kill you before you know it. Did you hear that, Akatsuki! My army is bigger than yours!

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Warning: If you don't remember my previous spoiler alerts, it still applies. Don't think that just because this was posted a while ago that you still don't have to read the most recent chapters of the Naruto manga. I incorporate everything from the most recent chapters into the storyline. And I mean EVERYTHING! If you're not up to date, don't read this story! Major, MAJOR SPOILER ALERT!

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Note: A year has passed since I started uploading this series. Last year, it was a Monday, so Monday was the day to upload, but this year it's Tuesday! Yes, I'm changing my uploading schedule. So, you'll have to wait for Tuesdays from this upload onwards. And don't forget my policies for holidays.

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**Chapter 17: Coping in Circles**

_**'I**n the end, there was nothing more that I could do. In the end, there were only the screams of agony that drew you to me. What had happened to us? What had happened to these arms that wanted to hold you? Time has passed into the past and can no longer return. With these arms that wanted to protect you, I forged myself into a living weapon. With these arms that wanted to protect you, I have remade hands into swords. I can no longer hug you. Don't come near me. For now, and for all the time to come, I can never touch you again. For now and forever, these arms will only cut you.'_

**T**here were some things men were never meant to do. Sleep was one of them. Sasori still couldn't find a need for sleep, even after Sakura explained the reasons several times, in every possible way. When he was a puppet, he didn't need sleep, and as a nukenin, it was only a nuisance, especially when there were so many people waiting for a chance to cut off his head. Sometimes to literally cut off his head.

And there were even more dangers in Sakura's household than when he was an S-ranked criminal.

And the dangers weren't Sakura's parents.

He had thought Sakura's parents would be the most of his problems, especially after Ino spread the word around Konoha that he was the father of Sakura's child, but the news only seemed to appease them. He had thought they hated him, would never want him anywhere Sakura no matter what the circumstances were. But apparently, they loved Sakura more, enough so that they wouldn't hurt the man she loved to the extent of carrying his child. At least, they loved her enough so that they wouldn't stand between them. They still threatened him and hurt him occasionally—although not seriously—when their daughter wasn't around, but around Sakura, there was an unspoken truce, an agreement that they wouldn't make Sakura into a battlefield.

No, the least of his troubles were Sakura's parents.

Then, there were the stalkers. There was a fanboy watching him, even as he sat in the thin light climbing pass the thick drawn curtains. If he was asleep, he would have died at that moment. There were more than a few young Konoha shinobi who wanted him out of the way so they could gallantly sweep Sakura away when she's left aimlessly lost without her lover.

Not that Sasori was going to let _that_ happen.

_'Lover...'_

But that brought him to his most vexing problem.

The Suna shinobi pulled his gaze from the shadows to fall cautiously on Sakura's sleeping figure. Even though he knew what was happening to her, he still couldn't believe it. There were still no signs of change. He could only wonder at what was truly happening.

He was a genius, but there were some things that even a genius didn't know. He had never been a father before. He had never even _dated_ before. And he had agreed to be the father of Sakura's child without thinking about what he was really saying.

_'Lover?'_

The agreement he had made the previous week still hadn't sunk in.

He still didn't fully understand what he had said when he told everyone that he was the father of Sakura's child.

_'Does that mean I'm Sakura's...lover?'_

Sasori slowly inched toward Sakura's bed, his frustrated mind trying to wrap around that thought. Lover. He didn't even know what a lover was!

"Che!" Sasori pulled his hands away. If he allowed frustration to take over, he would definitely kill her. He would kill her and make her into a puppet. But he couldn't draw their attention! He couldn't let the Hokage...

...but the blond woman was already in his head! She had already embedded the hints of his blunder into his head!

_Sasori contemplated Raidou's hastily hidden nervous shaking. Even though the Suna-nin had never spent prolonged periods of time in the Hokage tower—at least not enough to see if fear was a natural emotion in this place, like it was in the Kazekage palace—he knew that it wasn't normal. Something was scaring him._

_So, he agreed, even though he wanted to say no. He wasn't a shinobi of this village. If the Hokage summoned him, he didn't have to go. But he couldn't make himself refuse. 'Kuso!' His humanity was rising up again. He couldn't bring himself to disappoint Raidou when the Konoha-nin was already in pain._

_Besides, it wasn't as if he couldn't go. In fact, now was the best time to leave the house. Deidara had disappeared somewhere, and Sakura wasn't around. If he didn't go now, when he had the opportunity, there would only be endless questions later, when he finally went._

_With a frustrated breath, the redheaded shinobi knocked on the door and waited, his mind trying to ignore Raidou's strange inching away as Tsunade's voice answered from with in her office. "Come in!"_

_Sasori was conscious of the sudden disappearance of Raidou as he opened the door, but all speculation on this strange event vanished as he saw it. He noticed it as soon as he walked in. There was no way he could miss something like that._

_Tsunade's desk had broken cleanly in half with only the faint print of a fist on the broken wood surface to hide the truth of what had happened to it. And behind it sat the Hokage, trying to suppress the incredibly noticeable vein throbbing angrily on her head._

"_Sasori," Tsunade said with incredible calm even though she looked as if she could literally explode at any moment. "Please, have a seat." But somehow, her voice remained constant and cordial, even though her face was almost beaming with anger._

_The Suna-nin looked cautiously at the chair before deciding that sitting was a bad decision. "No, thank you." There was nothing wrong with the chair—not that he could see—but if he needed to make a quick escape from someone like Godaime Hokage, he shouldn't sit down. She could lurch forwards and kill him with one hand._

_And he had probably done something to deserve it._

"_I insist," Tsunade said with a forced smile. She was definitely annoyed._

_Sasori sat down._

_Tsunade stared unwaveringly at the redheaded man from the other side of the broken desk, suffocating him with silence. The only sound was the sound of air pressing against Sasori's chest, and the faint scratch of Tsunade's irritated pen, scratching through paper. _

_Nothing else._

"_Hokage-sama!" Sasori shouted. He couldn't wait for her to say something. If he had to wait, he would lose his mind! "Why—" But the Suna-nin swallowed his question at the Hokage's cold glare._

_Tsunade's frigid—although somehow tranquil—expression froze Sasori immediately. If spring didn't rage so obviously outside the window behind Tsunade, the redhead would have insisted that the freezing room was immersed in winter. "There is nothing to worry about, Sasori." The blond woman's voice somehow exuded fake warmth, even though her expression could have instantly killed any child. "I didn't ask you here to kill you." She smiled, as if something like that would never happen._

_Sasori gathered what was left of his sane courage, braced himself against the infuriating woman, and forced himself back to his normal self. 'She's just a woman! I won't let a woman scare me!' Not even if she was a much, much scarier version of Sakura. "Hokage-sama," Sasori said acridly, somehow managing to keep himself in control in spite of Tsunade's dark expression. "Is there a reason I'm here?" If there wasn't a good reason, he was definitely leaving. He wasn't here to watch her wade slowly through her workpile. He had other things to do. He had other, more important things to do._

_Tsunade looked directly at the redhead, the dangerous aura surrounding her vanishing completely before she spoke. "Sakura told me that you're the father of her child," the woman said slowly. "Congratulations!" Tsunade almost seemed truthful._

_Almost._

_Sasori knew what she wanted to hear._

"_It's true." The redhead managed to choke the words out even though he wanted to deny it. The pressure from Sakura, her parents, and the pressure of all the people in the village was enough to make him want to tell the truth. But if he did... Nothing would probably happen, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. Even though Sakura didn't control his body anymore, she still held the emotional rope tied around his freedom. "I'm the father of Sakura's child."_

_It was what Tsunade wanted to hear._

_For a moment, the Suna-nin expected the blond woman to smack him, to hit him so hard that his head would fly off, but the woman only blinked. She stared at Sasori for a moment before smiling pleasantly, the anger and frustration floating around her when he first entered the office vanishing thoroughly. There wasn't even a tiny trace of it in the air. "I said congratulations," she said, as if she had meant it the first time._

"_Congratulations?" Sasori couldn't understand what was happening. He was sure she had suspected they were lying about it. He had sensed it! "Is that why you summoned me?" He couldn't believe this was all she had summoned him for. _

_And Raidou had been so damned persistent!_

"_Actually, I was wondering if you'd name your child after me," the woman said with a pleasant nod. "Tsunade's a good name. It's nothing, really." _

_And she smiled as if it was really nothing._

Sasori rose from his seat, his nerves screaming for release from that evil woman's grasp, but even as he rammed his head against the cold wall by Sakura's bed, he couldn't escape from that mindnumbing hell. The Suna-nin held his head at the painful memory. It had happened not long ago. The memory was too strong! _'I'll consider it! Why did I say that!'_ He didn't even want to _consider_ calling his child Tsunade!

"Kuso!" Sasori's eyes fell on the pink-haired girl's sleeping form. His child... He had to remember that it wasn't _his_ child!

This wasn't his child!

And he wasn't Sakura's lover!

Sasori rushed out of the room. He couldn't stay there any longer! He had to know what he had said. What had he agreed to? What did he say to make the Hokage hate him...more than she already did!

And he needed to vent the frustration boiling in his chest. Somehow, he had to get his mind off Sakura!

**S**ai didn't know what it was. After following the newly inducted member of the Keimu Butai for a week, it was still the same. Either Sasuke didn't know he was there, or he was ignoring him. Sai preferred to think it was the second reason. He wasn't comfortable thinking that he could be thoroughly ignored so easily. According to everyone, and according to the report given to him by the Hokage, Uchiha Sasuke was sane, and completely—circle and highlight the word completely—aware of his surroundings. There should be nothing wrong with him.

That meant he _must_ know that he's there!

But even though he would prefer to think that Sasuke was only ignoring him, Sai just couldn't believe the report. Even though he tried to believe that Sasuke was only being cold to this man assigned to watch him, all evidence pointed to the other reason. Sasuke's eyes would stare through Sai's solid body, even when he looked directly at him.

It was creepy.

Although Sai wasn't going to admit that it was creepy! He had some pride as part of the Root! A regular shinobi like Sasuke—even if it was _Uchiha Sasuke—_wasn't going to intimidate him! He refused to be intimidated!

So, Sai ignored it. He tried to ignore the signs pointing to Sasuke's instability. It wasn't hard. Outside the Uchiha estate, Sasuke seemed normal. Sai had only been following him for a week, so he couldn't really know what Sasuke's normal state was, but there didn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary...

...on the surface.

Any ordinary citizen of Konoha wouldn't have noticed it. An ordinary shinobi would have missed it, but a higher-ranking shinobi would have seen it immediately. Sasuke's languid movements weren't normal. That level of concentration... The dark-haired shinobi didn't see anything outside of work! And even while working in the Keimu Butai, he didn't seem like himself. For a man with such a high level of skill, working as a lower ranking member of the Keimu Butai should have annoyed him! Sai remembered a Sasuke with more pride. He was easily stronger than the current chief.

It wasn't normal.

It definitely wasn't normal for Sasuke.

Sai wanted to tell the Hokage about it immediately, or report it to someone. Maybe Yamato, or Danzou...or someone! Sakura!

But he couldn't. Not yet. He needed to find out what was wrong with Sasuke first. He needed to wait until he knew that he was right, that Sasuke was still dwelling on that event, Naruto's death, that one moment that had happened almost a year ago.

Before he could tell anyone, he needed more evidence.

**W**hen Sakura woke that morning, Sasori was already gone. But it wasn't unusual. He often left early without leaving evidence of where he was going or when he was returning, just so he could annoy her. Besides, she didn't want to see him. She didn't need him for anything, and even if he _was_ with her, he would only get in the way. He wasn't inconspicuous enough, and she needed stealth if she wanted to follow Sasuke around.

S-ranked criminals didn't have any stealth.

_'No! Stop thinking about him! Focus! Focus! Sasuke-kun's right there!'_

Sakura pushed all thoughts of Sasori away.

"Why are you doing this again? You have other things to do today, yeah?"

Sakura jumped at the voice. She had forgotten that the blond nukenin was there. "Deidara, shut up or go away," the pink-haired girl snapped, her cold aqua-green eyes hardening unnaturally. Deidara wasn't a stealthy person either. She should have sent him to Sasori, or somewhere else as soon as she saw him follow her out of the house. Even though he was a nukenin and had every reason to need stealth, he was an S-ranked criminal who was a part of Akatsuki. He definitely didn't know what stealth was, not when he had enough strength to defeat anyone who came after him.

Deidara stared at Sakura. _'She didn't just tell me to shut up and go away, yeah.'_ But he could be mistaken. Sakura certainly wasn't afraid of him. "I'm blowing him up." He decided to do it as he tried to remember what Sakura had said...and failed to remember the words. All that did was make him want to kill that guy. If he killed Sasuke, he would hurt Sakura, and at least, it would make him feel better about forgetting what she had said.

He pulled out a lump of nendo.

"You are not!" For a moment, Sakura shouted her anger without thinking. As she realized what she had done, her arms immediately shot out and pulled Deidara into the shallow shadows of day. But as she looked back, Sasuke remained oblivious to their presences. "Deidara," Sakura growled between clenched teeth, her unnaturally strong hands holding the taller nukenin easily above the ground. "If you hurt Sasuke-kun—"

"Hurt him?" Deidara shrugged casually, or at least, as casually as he could manage with his feet hanging from the ground and his shoulders restrained by the tight fabric clenched in Sakura's hands. "I don't know what you mean, yeah. I was just going to end this useless stalk—"

"I'm not stalking him," Sakura said, her voice smouldering with anger as she smashed Deidara against the building. "If you don't like being here, then leave!" She dropped the blond man mercilessly to the ground and stormed away.

She had more important things to do than talk to a useless shinobi.

She was following Sasuke around. She wouldn't deny it. But she had a legitimate reason! She could lie to everyone, but at least, Sasuke should be able to see through her deception. He had to! Why couldn't he see the truth, even through all these rumours?

_'Sasuke-kun...'_ Her eyes watched the dark-haired shinobi walking into the Keimu Butai headquarters. She wanted to tell him the truth, even if he didn't believe her. He probably wouldn't believe her anyway. In fact, she hardly believed herself anymore. It was such a long time ago. She almost believed that her lie was the truth.

Almost.

It wasn't Sasori! She would _never_ let Sasori touch her!

Never!

"You look deranged, yeah."

Sakura turned a glare at Deidara. _'Deranged...'_ That was how she felt! But she wasn't going to admit it. "I told you to leave!" She hissed threateningly at the blond man.

"You've been following him the whole morning. Either talk to him or go home, yeah. I'm bored." Deidara couldn't understand how Sakura could follow a person for half the day and still find it interesting enough to continue.

"If you're bored, then go away. Leave me alone! I didn't ask you to follow me!" Although she wouldn't rule out Sasori telling Deidara to follow her around. She couldn't think of a reason why Sasori would want to keep an eye on her, but he must have some weird reason or other.

_If_ it was true.

But as she went to wait for Sasuke to leave the Keimu Butai headquarters, Deidara didn't follow her.

**I**f only he knew the truth, it would be easier. If he knew the truth, Kakashi knew that he wouldn't have to worry about this problem anymore. Whether it was good news, or bad news, or he just wanted to know how it happened... Even if it hurt him...

Sakura and Sasori were close. He knew they were close, but Sakura choosing to be with Sasori? No one saw that coming! _'I'm close too!'_ He was her sensei, and he was her friend, wasn't he? Why didn't he see it coming! He should have seen this coming!

"Kuso!" He just couldn't make himself believe what Sasori had said! Sasori was the father of Sakura's child? Impossible! He refused to believe it. He had to ask Sakura. He had to hear it from her!

But she wasn't home.

He had already gone to her house, and her parents said she wasn't home. Their hostility toward him had lowered since the rumour began circling around the village; that should have made him feel better! However, he didn't have time to dwell on that change of heart. He needed to find Sakura. He needed to know the truth, so that he could ease the thoughts nibbling away his sanity. If he couldn't find her, he didn't know what he would do!

He could kill Sasori.

_'Konoha gaki!'_ He could still remember Sasori's words. _'You've already lost!'_ He couldn't get them out of his head!

"Get out." Kakashi tried hard not to yell. Even though he wanted to shout at those words, to force it out of his mind, there were people around him. He couldn't let Sasori affect him! "Get out!" His voice hissed in low tones, enough to ease his frustration.

But not enough to make the words go away.

"Kakashi-sensei?"

At the voice, Kakashi's mind snapped back to reality. "Sakura!" His mind pounded with effort, trying to hang onto his sanity, to ignore the Suna-nin's taunting words in his head. He had wanted to see her. That was true. But he wasn't ready! He couldn't see her like this. He couldn't see her like this! He barely had a grip on his mind!

"Kakashi-sensei, daijoubu?" Sakura looked genuinely worried...like a benevolent angel.

And for a moment, long lost tranquility sank into his mind.

But only for a moment.

Before he lost control of his thoughts.

**T**obi tried, but he couldn't move. Sasori's poison had spread throughout his body. If an animal found him now, he would definitely die. If Zetsu found him at that moment, he would definitely die. If anyone found him, he would definitely die! An animal would eat him. Zetsu would kill him for insubordination. And anyone else—_if_ anyone found him in this endlessly thick foliage—wouldn't be able to do anything for him. Sasori's poison was Sasori's poison. He didn't even hold one shred of hope that someone could help him. The only person who even had a chance of saving him would only kill him.

His jumbled thoughts, the only ones that held a shred of a chance of convincing that man otherwise, could barely find the confidence to believe he had a chance.

And he deserved to die. Tobi couldn't deny that he deserved to die. He had thought he was strong enough to defeat him, to defeat Sasori. Without his puppet body, Sasori should have been easy to defeat. But he had made too many mistakes. He had made mistakes within his mistakes. He had made enough so that there was no way he could find his way out of this impossible maze of permanent blunders. No one was going to forgive him for disobeying his master, and not only disobeying his master, but disobeying him, failing to kill Sasori and failing capture the jinchuuriki as well!

Zetsu definitely wouldn't save him.

Tobi blinked, trying to clear his blurring vision, but the shadows had already grown over his sight. As everything faded from his senses, he could only hear the sound of something coming through the thick leaves around him.

**H**idan growled irritatedly as he pushed his way through another bundle of thick wood and leaves and forced his way forwards. He was so focussed on getting through this unnaturally green land that he almost left his partner behind. At his current pace, he would have been far ahead if it wasn't for Kazuku's immense size. Anyone smaller would have been lost to the impossibly thick branches of leaves surrounding them, but Kazuku crushed everything beneath him.

"Hidan, stop."

The nukenin turned to face his partner. He wasn't nice enough to care if he lost the Taki-nukenin, but they had wasted enough time wandering through Hi no Kuni. If he didn't stop, they would have only lost more time because of Kazuku and his many reasons...not to mention that Itachi _somehow_ managed to miss mentioning that the Kyuubi's jinchuuriki happened to be a Konoha shinobi! They had wasted too much time!

So, he stopped.

"What?" Hidan wanted to get to their destination as soon as possible. _'If this is about money, I'm going to kill him.'_ It had better be something important.

Kazuku stared at his partner for a moment, his thoughts jumping, debating whether or not to tell Hidan that he was about to step on someone. "That." Kazuku pointed to the dark mass lying on the ground, a step away from his partner's foot.

Hidan glanced at the black form before his face contorted with anger. "Che!" He stomped on it as hard as he could, grinding his foot into the unmoving bundle. All the blood in his body was rushing to his head. "I should stop for this damned thing!" It was only Tobi. No one else would want to wear a mask like that! "Useless," Hidan hissed under his breath as his foot dug into the semi-conscious shinobi. "We should do Zetsu a favour and kill him!" Hidan reached for the three-bladed scythe on his back.

Kazuku considered stopping his partner, but it was useless. In this state, there was no arguing with Hidan. Whether Zetsu would be grateful or angry later, they would deal with it when the time came. And whether Tobi fought them or not, it was still going to take several hours.

The Taki-nukenin turned and sat against the base of a thick tree.

Hidan's mandatory sacrifice was definitely going to happen whether he said anything or not. And Hidan's crazed state was something he wanted to stay away from. His partner could end up killing _him_, along with that useless subordinate.

Kazuku could only hope that Zetsu didn't overreact about their touching one of his minions. Tobi's head wasn't worth nearly enough money for Kazuku to want to kill him. It was obviously Hidan's idea!

So, with that argument in mind, Kazuku sat back and watched.

**End Chapter 17**

---------------------------

Fire's English tidbits for those who care:

Here's something I learned a long time ago. I only remembered it recently. Anyway, when do you use "many" and when do you use "much?" Here's a simple explanation. Many is used for concrete objects and much is used for abstract objects. What does this mean? That means, if you can count it, use many. If you can't count it, use much. For example, "Naruto had many boxes of ramen stored around his house," and "Much time had passed since Naruto had last spent time with Sasuke. Boxes can be counted. Time can't be counted. I hope that made sense.

Fire's babbling:

Tobi: (staring at the audience) You actually want me dead? But why!

Sasuke: You're annoying.

Deidara: You're an idiot.

Fire: You try too hard.

Tobi: Fire-sama! You too?

Zetsu: You mess up too often.

Sasori: You're annoying.

Sasuke: I already said that!

Sasori: ...

Hidan: I just want to kill him.

Fire: Hidan! (hugs Hidan)

Hidan: Kazuku! Get this leech off me!

Kazuku: ...

Kisame: I'm free! (tries to run away)

Fire: No! Kisame! Mine! (lets go of Hidan and grabs onto Kisame again)

Sasuke: (turns to Hidan) Now's your chance. Run away.

Hidan: I don't have to listen to you!

Fire: Oh, and if you're wondering when that flashback at the beginning of the chapter took place, what Deidara and Sakura were doing, they were at Sasuke and Naruto's graves. If you remember, that's what they were doing at the end of the last chapter. If not, re-read it. You'll probably understand the foreshadow if you read it again. Like when I reread the Naruto manga! I understand it so much more after the tenth time!

Sasuke: You're crazy.

Kisame: I should be saying that! Let go of me!

Fire: (squeezes Kisame) ...

Kisame: O.O;; (squeaks and falls unconscious) ...

Sasuke: Now review, while Fire's occupied!

Fire: Hey! What does that have to do with it?

Sasuke: You'll go into another of those long ad-filled speeches about why they should review.

Fire: But I haven't done that in such a long time! I want to make a speech!

Sasuke: (sighs) Fine! But make it short!

Fire: Yay! Remember to review!

Sasuke: That's it!

Fire: That's not enough! Um...remember to review. I want to know what you liked, what you didn't like and all other thoughts you had while reading this story. It'll help improve the quality of the story. And I know it's depressing. It'll get better! I swear!

Sakura: It better! Stop torturing me already!

Sasori: Torturing YOU? Fire's torturing _me_!

Fire: Okay, ja!

Sasuke: That's it!

Fire: Prove you exist by leaving a rev—

Sasuke: I said that's it!

---------------------------


	19. 18: Back to Where the Problems All Began

Fire: Today, another installment of Wait for Me: Searching! Yay! (throws little Orochimaru puppets)

Sasuke: Why would I want this junk?

Sasori: I worked hard on those!

Fire: Um...no, I wasn't eaten by cannibals, Soda-san.

Zetsu: Don't look at me.

Fire: Um...EasilyAmusedReader-san...

Sasuke: (shouting angrily) The hints aren't enough? You still don't know who the father is!

Sasori: It's me of course!

Sakura: No it's not! (smacks Sasori in the head and sends him flying across the window)

Fire: --;; Um...I think we'll just go on with the story now.

Tobi: (pulls chapter 18 onto the screen)

---------------------------

Note: Remember the legend? No? Then I'll put up a small one again.

---------------------------

Legend:

Text

"Regular speech, and the Zetsu that speaks with normal speech speaking"

_Flashbacks_

_'Thoughts'_

"_Speech in flashbacks"_

"**Zetsu (the one that speaks all in kana) speaking"**

---------------------------

**Chapter 18: Back to Where the Problems all Began**

_**'L**ooking back years from now, would we still consider this love? Because love shouldn't hurt us so much, should we just let go? My fingers ache, forced into endlessly gripping your hand even though I know I should let go. Because you want me to let go. But I can't. This stubbornness is my love, our love, the only love I have left for you, because when I let go, my last memories of this emotion will fade into oblivion, and not even a wisp will linger in our future's history.'_

**T**he sun reflected off the three-bladed scythe hovering in the air before vanishing as the blades lodged themselves into the thick truck of a tree far to its wielder's left. The nukenin's gaze lingered on his neutralized weapon, his head pounding with murderous anger for a moment before turning serenely to the plant-like man who had knocked it out of his hand. All thoughts of destruction instantly vanished as he faced Zetsu. The blood had already begun to flow away from his head, the voices of destruction already wafting away. "You don't _want _me to kill him?" Hidan's bland question held no trace of guilt. He wasn't going to hide what he was going to do.

"I never gave you permission to kill _my_ subordinate." Zetsu's supercilious voice was enough to elicit a glare from Hidan, but not enough to promote retaliation. It _was_ Zetsu's minion, and Hidan had no desire to begin a lengthy battle, especially since they were all in a hurry. It was rare for everyone to meet in one place, at the same time, but with the last jinchuuriki so close, he wasn't surprised. For any other reason, Hidan—in this state—wouldn't have allowed them to get away.

_'After...' _He was already planning when he would continue this fight.

"Kazuku!" Hidan turned from Zetsu, pulled his scythe from the tree and continued away. "Chikusho! I'll kill him later!" Not that saying those words was easing the bloodlust away.

Zetsu watched the two Akatsuki members walk away, and waited until he knew they were gone before speaking again. "Tobi," Zetsu said as he walked to his subordinate. He knew that his minion was still conscious, even though he couldn't move. "Do you want to die?" The Kusa-nin's voice held only a tinge of anger.

"Zetsu-sama..." Tobi managed to speak through his ever-tightening breath. This was his chance. Zetsu was the only one who could save him. "Tasukete kudasai..."

The Kusa-nukenin stared at his minion. If he had a sense of humour, he could have laughed. But he didn't have a sense of humour, so he didn't laugh. "No," Zetsu said slowly. Tobi had disobeyed him, and left the mission uncompleted. "_I _had to finish that mission." He didn't need to explain why he wasn't going to save him. Tobi had made too many mistakes, too many annoying choices to be redeemed. He had seen everything.

He didn't need a useless subordinate.

"But...I have..." Tobi took a deep breath—as deep as he could manage with Sasori's poison spreading through his body—before speaking again, forcing precious air into sound. "...important...information...Zetsu-sama."

Tobi was smart, even if he didn't always choose the right course of action. If there was anyone in Akatsuki who could save him, it would be his master. Only Zetsu could cure him of Sasori's poison. A poison made from plants held no secrets from other plants.

And Zetsu couldn't leave the prospect of important information that could help them achieve their goals.

"Tasukete kudasai," Tobi said as his vision faded again. If Zetsu decided to leave him, he would definitely die. "...onegai..."

Zetsu watched the useless minion slowly fall into death's hands, but his mind decided before Tobi could fade away. "Fine," the Kusa-nin said reluctantly. Information was information. He needed to know what Tobi had discovered. Besides, he could still kill Tobi later, if the information was unsatisfactory. And there was still Hidan. "But—"

"**I'll have to eat you!"**

Tobi's mind jumped at the words. For a moment, he actually managed enough strength to push himself from the ground into a sitting position and shout, "No!" He wasn't going to let Zetsu bite him. He had seen Zetsu eat a victim before. No matter what, he didn't want to become Zetsu's food!

"Not eat," Zetsu corrected his other half. "We're just going to sample a little of your blood." He said it as if it was nothing.

"But—" Tobi didn't trust Zetsu. A little bite could be a lot. He could lose half his body in that giant venus fly trap.

But there was no way around it. "I won't know what poison was used without your blood." Zetsu turned away. "I can always leave you here..." There was no one else in Akatsuki who could, or would, help Tobi at this point.

Not even if Sasori was there.

Tobi nodded slowly. He had to trust his master. If he wanted to live, he had to trust him.

"Good," Zetsu said as he clamped down on Tobi's torso, tearing a long gash across his body.

Tobi screamed at the searing pain. "You said a little, Zetsu-sama!"

Zetsu wiped the blood from his mouth. "Hmm? That _was_ a little."

"You ripped me open!"

"Now stay here. I'm going to make an antidote."

"Zetsu-sama!" Tobi couldn't let him leave. He could wake up dead.

But there was no way around it. Slowly, unconsciousness took hold of him, and he couldn't complain to Zetsu anymore.

**E**ven though he didn't have a watch, Tobi knew by the position of the sun that he had been unconscious for several hours. And he was still alive! In fact, his previously leadened body no longer held the weight of death over its limbs.

But he knew that it wouldn't last. Even though Zetsu didn't kill him, it was only time before his master decided that he wasn't worth the trouble anymore. He had made too many mistakes. Even _he_ knew that he had made too many mistakes. Way too many mistakes to redeem himself to Akatsuki.

Nothing he did now could change his fate.

"The meeting's beginning soon," Zetsu said, startling Tobi. He hadn't realized that his master was still there. "It better be good." Zetsu hadn't forgotten what Tobi had said earlier about having important information.

If Tobi was lucky, they wouldn't kill him during the meeting.

**K**akashi tried. He really tried. He had tried so hard that his head was going to explode. But he couldn't hold his thoughts in place. He couldn't! He couldn't stop himself, his thoughts from pouring out. Sasori... He couldn't accept that Sakura had chosen Sasori over him! "Sakura!" The words wouldn't stop, no matter how hard he tried. "Tell me you haven't chosen that nukenin!" She couldn't _actually_ choose someone like Sasori! "Sasori's not... Sasori's not—" But he couldn't say it. To say those words aloud, to ask that question and actually get an answer, would be to admit that there was a possibility that it was the truth! If Sakura said yes, he didn't know what he would do.

So, all he could do was stare at Sakura, his mind clinging to the deception that it wasn't true, that Sakura couldn't possibly like Sasori. Even though knew knew it was all possible.

"Kakashi-sensei," Sakura said slowly as she walked around the jounin toward her house, "why are you standing in front of my door?" She was ignoring his question.

She didn't want to answer him.

There were two things she could do. She could lie to him—something that Kakashi might actually prefer—or she could tell him the truth, something she couldn't do. Either decision would hurt him. She should just choose one. But she had already hurt him enough. She couldn't decide what to say to him.

So she chose the third option: ignore it.

"What am I _thinking_," Sakura said with a friendly smile as she backed toward her front door. "_Of course_ you can stand there. You live in this village too. You can stand...where you want!" She reached quickly for her keys. She didn't want to give her sensei any time to recover from his blunder.

Just remembering what he had said to her before—that he liked her—and that question about the father of her child was enough to make her want to leave. She couldn't pretend that she hadn't heard him. Twice!

"Sakura."

The pink-haired medic-nin stopped, her hand freezing in the air, the keys stopping before she could escape. "Yes, Kakashi-sensei?" She couldn't bring herself to shun him, even though she already knew what he was going to say. She couldn't just leave him outside when he called for her. Not after rejecting him.

"Sakura, tell me the truth." The grey-haired jounin's serious voice spoke unwaveringly from behind his former student. He had made up his mind. "Tell me that those rumours aren't true." As her sensei, he was only concerned about her. As her sensei, he only wanted to shield her from the village's accusations. Sasori was living with her. He was the natural scapegoat! _'Tell me that this what it is! Tell me that they're making you admit these things! That you never said any of it!'_ He tried to convince himself that he was concerned, only as her sensei, but his thoughts refused. He knew that it was because of something more.

"I can't, sensei." Sakura's conscience hovered over what she should do, over what the _right _thing to do would be, but she already knew. She couldn't change her mind now.

No matter what, she had to protect Sasuke.

"If I said the rumours weren't true, I'd be lying." Resolved, she turned to face the grey-haired shinobi. "What do you want me to say, Kakashi-sensei?" Her cold aqua-green eyes reflected everything that Kakashi didn't want to see. "This is the truth. Do you want me to lie for you?"

And Kakashi believed her. "Then..." He couldn't think of anything else to say, except... "Tell me you don't love him," because that was all he had left. His hands could only grasp what was left of her heart and hang on before someone else could pull it away.

Sakura absorbed her sensei's words as her mind tried to understand what he had said. _'Love?'_ She panicked over the words. _'Does he know?'_ Did he know about the wavering emotions rising from the depths of her shattered heart? Did he know what she was feeling at this moment...

"And if I did?"

...for Sasori?

"What would you do?"

Before, she could have discarded Sasori without a second thought, but she couldn't even face him because of this lie. _'I should kill him, ne, sensei?' _Because surely, that was the best way to retain herself. That was the best way to continue devoting herself to Sasuke.

She could spare nothing for anyone else.

"Ja, Kakashi-sensei." Sakura left before the grey-haired jounin could answer her.

And as Kakashi watched Sakura disappear into her house, the answer floated up from the depths of his past. _'I'd kill him.'_

**F**or the thirtieth time in the last ten minutes, Sasori looked up from the book in his hands and glanced at the clock. Orochimaru was late. Even though the Sannin was dead, and he was one of his puppets, somehow, he still managed to annoy him. Somehow, Orochimaru still managed to lose track of the time and be late. Sasori didn't know how he managed to do it!

The book wasn't nearly interesting enough to draw his attention away from the unanswered question plaguing him since the week before. After searching through all the dictionaries in the library for a satisfactory definition of a lover, and finding none that explained the word in great enough detail—at least nothing that he didn't already know—he was left with this book in his hands. A parenting book.

If he was going to be a father, he should learn _how_ to be a father first.

Sasori glanced at the library entrance, then at the clock again. _'Where is that damned Sannin?!'_ The frustrated thought came right before the Orochimaru puppet rushed into the library...

...with two shinobi in his hands.

He had sent Orochimaru on a simple mission. And it was truly a simple mission, so there was no reason for it taking as long as it did. The puppet only had to do one simple task: find someone who could explain what a lover was.

Sasori was obsessed with it.

He had to ask someone!

"You!" In his half-crazed state, Sasori yelled at Kotetsu and Izumo, the two chuunin hanging from Orochimaru's hands. "Tell me what a lover is!"

The tall pile of books shook in Kotetsu's arms as he stared at the redheaded Suna-nukenin before turning desperately to Izumo. Sasori had scared him so badly that he almost dropped the books in his arms. But he couldn't drop them! They were important!

"Sasori-san, gomen nasai," Izumo said politely as he wrenched himself to the ground, somehow managing to do that, and pulling Izumo to the ground without dropping a single piece of paper from his full arms. "We're busy, and you know what Hokage-sama is like when she's angry." He smiled apologetically. "Besides, there are probably more qualified shinobi who could answer your question." Meaning he didn't want to explain something _like that _to Sasori.

Then, the two chuunin hurried away before anyone could stop them.

And Sasori was left alone again.

With only Orochimaru for company.

The redhead stared wretchedly at the Sannin puppet...

...before his body wrenched out of its seat, the room spun around, and he was left looking into a pair of angry purple eyes. "_You_," the purple-haired tokubetsu-jounin hissed angrily. Sasori didn't know what to say to her. "_You_ had to kill Orochimaru!"

"If you're going to thank me—"

"Thank you? I'm not going to thank you!" Anko continued, "It was my duty as his student!"

_'Why is everyone on edge lately?'_ Sasori sighed inwardly. _'And all their frustration is directed at me! Why?' _He couldn't think of way out.

"Um, Anko...san," Sasori said slowly as he pulled himself from the woman's grasp. "Since you're here..." It saved him the trouble of searching for someone to explain it to him. "...you can tell me what a lover is." And he wasn't going to let her leave until she told him the definition!

Unfortunately, Anko was already at the door. "Important business," she said with a light apologetic wave of her hand. "I'll..." She looked nervously at the door, Sasori's suggestion from a moment ago still plaguing her thoughts. "..._explain_...it later...maybe." And she ran away before the Suna-nin could stop her.

Obviously, she didn't want to explain it to him.

And Sasori was left without an explanation again.

**A**nko couldn't believe what had happened. Her timing was horrible. Since their return from Otogakure no Sato, she had been frustrated about Sasori's killing Orochimaru. Her entire reason for going to Oto was to kill her sensei, or at least to stop him. She had wanted to help. But that nukenin had to be the one who did it. And for that, she couldn't forgive him.

She hadn't even known that he was in the Hokage tower until she saw the Orochimaru puppet running through the halls. That annoying thing! _'If I had killed him, he wouldn't be a puppet!'_ She was angry about _that_ too! In fact, she was so angry that she could... She could...

Anko quickly shook the murderous thoughts out of her head. She wasn't lying when she said she had important business. She had to get to the Hokage's office before she forgot what she came here to do.

**T**hey were waiting. Again. From across the cave, Kazuku watched Hidan eye Tobi by Zetsu's side. The air was pulled so tight that if anyone said anything, it would snap. Deidara was late. Again. "We should just begin without him!" Hidan said impatiently. His head still pounded with destructive power. If he didn't get out of here and destroy something soon, he could explode and kill everyone here.

Not that it was possible to kill everyone there. The only real people in the cave—other than Hidan—were Kazuku, Tobi and Zetsu. Everyone else was projecting from somewhere else.

"Zetsu, why is Tobi here?" The Akatsuki leader decided to start without waiting. Knowing where Deidara was, there was a large possibility that he would be late. There was no point in waiting for him.

Although the dangers of being discovered wasn't a good enough reason to be late... _'I'll punish him later.'_ ...at the moment...

"This is a meeting for full members of the organization," the leader continued. "Tobi, you were demoted. Get out!"

"Tobi said he had important information," Zetsu said bluntly, before Tobi could be thrown out, even though he didn't believe Tobi. "He wanted to inform us personally."

At that moment, every set of eyes in the cave turned expectantly to Tobi. He had done a lot of things to merit his demotion. It wasn't because he caught Sanbi without fighting a jinchuuriki. It wasn't that he was annoying. It wasn't that he joined Akatsuki without going through the rigourous trials that the rest of them had to endure. No. It was that he had failed so many times. Failures were unacceptable.

But this information _could_ redeem him.

"I'm here, yeah! Gomen nasai!" Deidara's shadowy figure appeared hurriedly in the cave. "It was hard to find a secluded place. Did I miss anything?"

"No." Kazuku gestured at Tobi. "Tobi was about to tell us some interesting information."

"Deidara, I didn't think you would show," Zetsu said, his voice hinting at bits of disappointment. "You seemed really concerned about that pink-haired Konoha medic-nin."

"**You have second thoughts about your mission!"** Zetsu accused.

"You're seeing things, Zetsu," Deidara said, not a bit fazed by the Kusa-nin's words.

"I saw him." Tobi's words interrupted the argument before it could go further. "He was too—"

"Tobi, urusai! You saw nothing!" Deidara snapped at the masked shinobi. "This is a meeting for _real_ members of Akatsuki, yeah! You should be grateful that we didn't kill you where you stand!"

"Sasori-sama's not Sasori-sama," Tobi said confidently, even though he knew that Deidara wasn't joking about killing him. If he made a wrong move, he could die at that moment. "You should have seen it by now, Deidara-senpai."

"That's why I have this approach, yeah," Deidara said, equally confident. If he wanted to kill Tobi, he could just send a torigata nendo through the forests surrounding Konoha and kill him. To accommodate Hidan and Kazuku who were waiting at the outskirts of the village, the meeting place was close to Konoha. "That girl is an important person to Sasori. I can use her to control him if necessary, yeah." The Iwa-nin glared at Tobi. "If _that's_ your information, it's not good enough, yeah. You should leave while you have the chance!"

"No, that's not all," Tobi said slowly as he turned to the group once more. _'Don't focus on Deidara-senpai. That's what he wants.'_ If he forgot his purpose there, he would be killed. "We thought the information was wrong, that the jinchuuriki hadn't returned." Even though his exterior seemed calm, inside, he was shaking. If he slipped now... If he showed any signs of weakness, he would definitely die. There wouldn't be a second chance. He couldn't let himself lose this chance! "But Zetsu-sama's never wrong. The answer has to be that he's either hiding in Konoha—which is unlikely since he doesn't even know that we're looking for him—or that someone is hiding—"

"Are you a moron?" Hidan's anger-filled voice growled from his side of the cave. He was two seconds away from pulling out his scythe and killing Tobi. "Why do you think we postponed capturing the Kyuubi for three years?!" Obviously someone was hiding him. They weren't doubting Zetsu's information gathering skills.

"But I know who's hiding him." Tobi nodded, almost trying to convince himself, but it was the truth. Even Zetsu didn't know this. He had spent a lot of time thinking about it when he was lying incapacitated and dying on the forest floor. He had thought over all the information he had gathered so far. He was there when Zetsu saw the jinchuuriki, right before they reported his return to Akatsuki. And Itachi's younger brother was with the Kyuubi at that time. That was when they were moving all the jinchuuriki's things into the Uchiha estate. If it was anyone hiding the jinchuuriki, it had to be Uchiha Sasuke.

**A**fter thinking about it, Sasori came to a conclusion. There was no one else to ask. There was only Deidara. So, that was who he had to ask. There was no way around it. Except that he couldn't find Deidara. The Iwa-nin had disappeared. Sasori only found him after searching for hours. And even then, it was in an unlikely place.

Deidara was only sitting on a bench in the park, like a regular person, and people weren't fearfully avoiding him. But one of the reasons for that could be because Deidara seemed asleep.

"Were you projecting, Deidara?" Sasori's voice was dark and filled with suspicion. He had performed that technique enough to know when someone was using it.

For the first time, Sasori actually found a reason to distrust Deidara.

"No," Deidara said as he opened his eyes. "Did it look like I was somewhere else? I was only trying to enjoy the park, yeah."

But Sasori didn't believe him. He never believed a thing Deidara said. Mistrust was natural in an organization like Akatsuki.

"It was nothing, yeah!" Deidara shouted the words angrily.

The Iwa-nin was definitely trying to hide something.

"Don't accuse someone without evidence, yeah!" The blond nukenin was trying to change the subject.

But Sasori wasn't going to force him to tell him what he was doing. If he wasn't careful, he could end up blowing up the entire village.

"Why were you looking for me?" The Iwa-nin was annoyed.

Sasori couldn't tell if he should ask him or not. So, he asked anyway. "Deidara," he said slowly, his mind working through all the possible ways of wording his question before deciding on the most non-invasive one. "You're a genius."

"So are you. What's your point, yeah?" Deidara eyed his former partner warily. Sasori wanted something. There was no other reason why the Suna-nin would flatter him.

"So you should know..."

Deidara stared at Sasori. He had never seen the redhead nervous before. He might never see it again.

"...what a lover is?"

Deidara backed away at the words. _'L-lover? Why is he asking ME this!'_ "Sa-Sasori-sama, y-you're teasing me, yeah? You can't..." But the serious expression answered his question before he could ask. "You really don't know?" He didn't want to explain something like _that_ to Sasori!

"It's not a joke, Deidara." Sasori glared angrily at the blond man.

"Of...of course," Deidara said as he turned away quickly. If he walked really fast in this direction, he could lose Sasori and get away unharmed. "I'll be right back, yeah!" And if he was lucky, Sasori wouldn't follow him.

Unfortunately, Sasori was right behind him. He could sense his former partner's chakra.

"I said I'll be right back, yeah! You don't have to follow me!"

"I don't trust you," Sasori said bluntly.

And Deidara slumped dejectedly at the words. Then, there was no other choice. He had to do _that_ to get out of it. "Fine!" Deidara looked around, chose a bright-looking stand without a lot of customers and sat down.

Sasori followed, unsure of what Deidara was doing, but he wasn't going to turn down the possibility of a good answer. Then finally, he could stop thinking about this subject and move on with his other annoying problems.

**T**sunade had had a long day filled with endless work, so she was entitled to a really strong drink. A few really strong drinks. In fact, she was entitled to a lot of really strong drinks! "Shizune! Let go!" The blond woman pulled her arm out of her apprentice's hands. For the last few minutes, the younger kunoichi has been trying to pull the the bottle of sake from her hands.

"Tsunade-sama, please stop drinking! You've already had so much sake!"

And apparently, she wasn't the only one with this problem. She hadn't noticed it before, but there was actually someone else in this empty food stand; in fact, it was someone else with the exact same problem! She knew she wasn't mean enough to reserve the entire restaurant for herself, but after the last few times—when she became thoroughly drunk and knocked down a few nearby tables and injured a few customers—she thought that no one was brave enough to come near her when she was drinking...other than Shizune.

"Deidara!" The angry voice unmistakeably belonged to Sasori. "Stop drinking and tell me!"

And Tsunade gathered what was left of her cognition, enough to sober up and listen to their conversation.

"A lover is..." From the other side of the stand, Deidara took another long drink from the sake bottle in his hand. "A lover..." Another sip. "A..." And he collapsed.

Sasori smacked the blond shinobi off his seat and kicked him. _'Kisama!'_ He knew that Deidara was smart, but this annoying plan... The Iwa-nin could have just told him that he didn't want to tell him! At least then, he could force an explanation out of him! Deidara was probably the only one who would drink himself unconscious just to get out of something. "Kuso!" He stomped on Deidara again before turning angrily away. He was leaving the blond Iwa-nin here. There was no way he was carrying that idiot home!

Then, he saw Tsunade and Shizune sitting across the food stand.

He stared at them for a moment, wondering why they were there, but his eyes gravitated toward the empty bottles on the counter, and he knew exactly why they were there. Tsunade had come to unwind after a long day. It was another good chance to ask about that same question that has been plaguing his mind for days.

Besides, it _was_ Tsunade who had put that question into his mind in the first place. Hopefully, she would be too drunk to realize that she was explaining it to him.

It could ruin the fun of watching him suffer.

Unfortunately, the previously sober-seeming woman had collapsed by the time he walked up. Pulling that much cognition out of her sake-filled head only made it worse.

Sasori turned to Shizune.

However, he still had a chance of getting an answer out of her apprentice.

**End Chapter 18**

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Fire's English tidbits for those who care:

Okay, here's something that will help you later. Choosing the right words for your story, or any other kind of writing. I have a friend who can't stop using excessively long words, and I know that it makes your essays or stories sound more formal, but when writing something for others to read, it's always best to use simple language. Large words and complicated sentence structures should only be used to provide variety in your work, and shouldn't make up most of the paper or chapter. --;; I know this sounds like I'm lecturing, but if you use too many of them, it makes the paragraphs too complicated, and they become really difficult to read. The idea is to get your ideas to the reader, not to confuse them.

Fire's babbling:

Fire: --;; I'm not sure if I've already said that before or if I was planning to say it, but I wrote it down anyway.

Sasuke: That tidbit is horrible.

Fire: (sighs) I know.

Sakura: Is Kakashi-sensei stalking me?

Fire: (sweats) Um...

Naruto: He's stalking Sakura-chan! I'll kill him!

Sasori: That's my job!

Sasuke: I don't care.

Sakura: Don't hurt Kakashi-sensei!

Deidara: So, you _do_ care about him, yeah?

Sakura: ...

Fire: Anyway, send me your reviews. To make the story better and more comprehensible, I want to know what you think, what you liked and what you hated. Be brutal. I don't care as long as you elaborate. Flames don't do anything to help me—

Sasuke: I said no advertising!

Fire: That's not an advertisement!

Kisame: Are you hugging me, or are you hugging Hidan?

Fire: (hugging both Hidan and Kisame) I can't hug both?

Hidan: Let go!

Fire: (lets go of Hidan but continues to hug Kisame) ...

Kisame: Hey! That never works for me!

Fire: Anyway, see you next week! Ja! And remember those reviews!

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	20. Nineteen: Frustrated Lovers

Fire: Hm...

Sasuke: What?

Fire: Nothing.

Sasuke: ...

Kisame: Just ask. Fire wants us to ask.

Fire: Yay! Kisame knows just what I'm thinking! (hugs Kisame)

Kisame: ...

Fire: Anyway, I've realized that there are a lot of people out there who spell oto as otou and sato as satou. --;;

Zetsu: You realized it just now?

Fire: (sighs) ...

Kisame: You're pathetic.

Fire: That's not what I want to address!

Sasuke: You meant these?

Tobi: (pulls in a giant bag of reviews) ...

Fire: (sweats) Um...how did you find _those?_

Sasuke: What about oto and sato? (annoyed) I don't care about Oto no Sato! (mumbles) At least not anymore.

Fire: Um...in case anyone thought that my spelling is wrong, I can send you a few pages of the Naruto raw manga and have you transcribe the furigana. You should know that Oto is spelled with a "to" and no "u!" The same goes for sato! What is wrong with you people?!

Sasuke: Okay, moving on.

Tobi: Address these.

Fire: --;; Um...I don't think Kisame minds if I cheat on him, Easilyamusedreader-san.

Kisame: If Fire would only let go of me, I can run away.

Hidan: I don't want anyone touching me! Fire's touch burns, chikusho! I don't want anyone touching me!

Kakuzu: You already said that.

Hidan: ...

Fire: And minna-san! Thank you all for your reviews! I'm glad you all took your time to say something.

Sakura: What do you mean, SasuSaku rocks? I hate this pairing!

Sasori: You're mean.

Sakura: You're calling me mean? You're evil!

Sasori: (smiles) ...

Fire: Enough talk! Tobi! Roll the next chapter!

Tobi: (sighs and drags chapter 19 onto the screen) ...

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Slight note: Nothing really important. I was late this week since I don't have net at home and for some reason the library shut down their power early. (cries) I couldn't plug in my external drive anywhere so I couldn't upload! Gomen nasai to anyone who was waiting for the next chapter!

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**Chapter 19: Frustrated Lovers**

_**'T**his morning, I woke whispering your name, and the image of your face filled my mind. But you weren't there, because you've left me. I try, and I tried again. The memories engraved in my thoughts must be wiped away, because if they remain, I can't endure it. Being alone or forgetting that I'm alone... I'm tired. Too tired to miss you anymore. So please, don't hate me. I have to forget you. I have to forget you, or lose my sanity.'_

**I**t was normal. Kind of. Every night, Sasuke walked home from the Keimu Butai headquarters, wandered around the house, looked in every room as if he was searching for someone, stared at the boxes strewn around his house, and then, he would sleep. In the morning, he would wake up, cook, eat, and stare at the boxes again before going to work. Sai expected this routine after two weeks of watching him. It was too normal to surprise him.

What he never expected were the nightmares.

Every night, after Sasuke went to sleep, the nightmares began. It was the only scrap of the true Sasuke hidden beneath the wandering waif that appeared during the day. It was the only part of him that Sai could associate with the man he had met during his first mission with Naruto. All the worry and pain that the dark-haired shinobi hid behind the thick walls he had built over the years poured out at night.

Sai didn't know what kinds of worries and pain tortured Sasuke. There was no way to know since Sasuke never said anything, never screamed even during the most painful parts of his nightmares. There were only the disturbed expressions contorting his face.

But there was one thing that proved Sai's theories about Sasuke. Wandering spiritlessly around Konoha during the day... Alone in disappointment while he searched the many rooms of his house for someone who wasn't there... The black eyes that saw nothing and no one from this world... The name that Sasuke had whispered weeks ago while clinging to his torso...

Naruto.

_'Are you still trying to forget Naruto, Sasuke-kun?'_ Even though the Uchiha's mind and body searched for him?

"Naruto..."

Sasuke's voice in his sleep revealed it more truly than anything Sai could reason. Sasuke was trying to forget Naruto. But all he was doing was killing him.

**S**akura focussed on the floor, her hands, anywhere else but there. She tried hard not to look at him. Unlike Sasori, she had emotions. Guilt nibbled at the edge of her mind. Even though she tried to keep herself from caring about Sasori, she couldn't stop herself. If it was anyone else, she would still feel the same. Sasori was obviously ragged from having the entire shinobi population—and some of the regular citizens—of Konoha shun him. If he was free and had the freedom to leave Konoha, he would have disappeared long ago, like he did in Suna. But she was holding him here. And she was never letting him leave.

It was too dangerous letting him roam unsupervised in the world. She still feared his returning to Akatsuki, or killing people, destroying villages, countries!

Making new hitokugutsu.

She shivered at the thought before turning from that topic. And crashed face first into the topic she was trying to avoid. _'I'm horrible!'_ She was torturing both of them! Sasori... Kakashi-sensei... She could never face them again!

"Sakura, I'm obviously attractive, but staring at me all day won't make me like you," Sasori said without even looking up at her. "It's annoying. If you feel guilty—"

"Who said I was feeling guilty!" She snapped angrily at him. "I don't care what happens to you!"

"Then are you thinking about Kakashi?" Sasori's voice suddenly darkened at the words. Even without asking, he already knew. She was thinking about Kakashi.

"I don't have to answer you!"

"Yes, you _don't_." Those simple words only confirmed that she was thinking about Kakashi. "Ino wants to throw a baby shower for you." He smiled, even though she was hiding something from him. "She wants an answer from you right away." He sent Orochimaru forwards with Ino's invitation.

Sakura stared at the envelope. "She just wants an excuse to throw a party." She knew Ino well enough to know what was happening. "And put away that puppet! I don't want Orochimaru walking around my house!"

"We _should_ have a normal conversation once in a while," Sasori complained, trying to change the topic. He didn't want to argue with Sakura every time they talked to each other. Even he and Deidara had something normal to talk about when they were still in Akatsuki. They didn't talk about art all the time! "I borrowed this from the library." He held up a thick book.

Sakura stared at the book, read the cover three times before she turned a glare at Sasori and stormed out of the house without a word, leaving Sasori and his book in the living room. _'Sasori,'_ her thoughts hissed angrily. "Are you a moron!"

"Actually," Sasori's voice said from beside her. He had followed her out of the house. "I'm a genius."

"Your point is? I'm a genius too!" She pushed Sasori away. More than anything, she didn't want to see Sasori. She didn't want him to remind her of what she was doing, the lies she was spreading through Konoha. "But you're a stupid genius in comparison." She didn't want to be reminded of what she was doing to him!

_'But why? I don't care what happens to him!'_ She tried to hold her crumbling thoughts together. _'He's Akasuna no Sasori! I don't care about people like him!'_ She couldn't _care_ about him! It was impossible!

"Then that was a redundant question, wasn't it?" Sasori's voice held no trace of anger, only mild criticism.

"Sasori..." Sakura turned slowly toward the puppetmaster.

"Yes?"

"Stay away from me!" She grabbed the redhead by the collar and threw him through the nearest wall. "I said leave me alone, shannaro!" She stomped away before Sasori could pull himself up.

"Leave me alone?" Sasori mused while mentally checking for broken bones. _'I...'_ She never said to leave her alone. Storming out of the house in anger didn't count as saying something. _'...need to remember that I can die now.'_

Sasori tested his arms and legs, but they were okay, except for the crippling pain tensing his muscles. But at least he could move.

_'Not that I couldn't die before...'_

**S**asuke stared at Sai. The ANBU-nin was obviously insane. Sai suspected that he was still thinking about Naruto? That was ridiculous! He wasn't thinking about Naruto at all! He wasn't! _'Now, how do I convince him that it's the truth?'_ Especially when he couldn't stop himself from thinking about Naruto.

He couldn't stop thinking that Naruto could be around the next corner, could be in the next room, could be anywhere in his house, or in Konoha. Whenever he walked by Ichiraku Ramen, he thought, _'Naruto could be inside, ordering a large bowl of disgusting ramen.'_ But as soon as he walked into Ichiraku, it would always hold someone else, not Naruto. If he walked in to the next room, the afterimage of Naruto would linger in the air, making him think that the blond shinobi had only stepped into the next room, into the hallway, anywhere else but there. And he had only missed Naruto by one moment. But if he went around the corner, or opened the door to the hall, there would only be another shadow of Naruto's presence.

Naruto always eluded his attempts to catch him.

"I'm not dreaming about Naruto." That, he could say confidently. Even if he was, he couldn't remember those dreams properly. If he dreamed of Naruto—_if_ he dreamed at all—he certainly didn't remember them. "Why would I linger in the past when..." Sasuke stopped. He was doing what he had always wanted. He had wanted to join the Keimu Butai since he was young, since before the clan massacre. If it had never happened, he would be...

But he wasn't happy! This wasn't what he really wanted.

"Why wouldn't you linger in the past, Sasuke-kun?" Sai seemed interested in what the dark-haired shinobi had to say.

But Sasuke's murderous glare in Sai's direction immediately crushed any expectation of an answer. _'I'm not telling you anything,'_ was what it said.

"Of course," Sai said politely. "But I'm curious, Sasuke-kun. Why are you trying to forget Naruto?"

"Why?" Sasuke paused, his mind submersed in deep thought before turning to Sai. _'He's the source of my misery, that's why!'_ But the killer intent around Sasuke only grew larger, tearing at the edge of Sai's world. "Go away. If you don't leave my house, I'm going to kill you." And he meant it.

"Now that I think about it, you lived in an apartment before, Sasuke-kun. Wouldn't it be better if—"

"I said," Sasuke interrupted as his eyes hardened into angry red sharingan, "get out of my house." The words squeezed through Sasuke's thick dark aura to Sai.

"..." The ANBU-nin considered staying for a moment—his mission was to keep an eye on Sasuke—but that moment was enough to decide that it was best to watch him from a distance. Even if it was impossible for Sasuke to ignore someone talking to him... _'I can still keep an eye on him from a safe distance.'_ He had to remember that Sasuke was much, _much_ stronger than what they could ascertain. He had ninjutsu that Sai had never seen before.

So, without a second thought, Sai shunshin-ed away, leaving Sasuke alone in his house.

Sasuke stared at the empty space where Sai stood a moment ago, and turned for the next room. _'Now, I think Naruto was in here a moment ago.'_ Naruto's things were there. He couldn't be far now.

**O**n the surface, Deidara looked calm, but he was panicking. Not only did he arrive late for the meeting, he also left early. And all he had to show for going to that meeting was the suspicion that he had left Akatsuki for Konoha, and the panic he was feeling at that moment. He was running out of time. No one had made it more plain than the Akatsuki leader. If he didn't capture the jinchuuriki, or bring Sasori back to Akatsuki—his whole body intact or just his head—they would kill him. They would automatically suspect that he had betrayed them.

But he hadn't! All he needed was more time. He only needed more time to develop his plan. He still hadn't found the jinchuuriki yet. Tobi had said Uchiha Sasuke was hiding the Kyuubi, but where was the evidence? He needed to know for sure before his next step. After that step, it would be too late to say he wasn't a part of Akatsuki anymore. Then, it would be indisputable that he had never betrayed Akatsuki in the first place.

But if he wanted to do it quickly, he needed help. He could still use Sasori to find the jinchuuriki! He could still use that pink-haired medic-nin to control Sasori.

Or he could just use her directly.

But more than anything, he didn't want Tobi to be his partner again. Not that it was possible for Tobi to re-enter Akatsuki. If he could prove that Tobi's information was wrong, there wouldn't be a chance of his surviving to see the Kyuubi's capture. And Deidara had been in Akatsuki long enough to know what happened to people who couldn't accomplish their tasks. Soon, he wouldn't have to worry about Tobi anymore. He only needed to focus on other things. He had to worry about himself!

_'Now, how do I find the jinchuuriki, yeah?'_ He didn't even know how to determine if it was true that Uchiha Sasuke was hiding the Kyuubi or not.

Yet.

**Z**etsu had told him to stay where he was, but Tobi was running away. There was no other choice. If he didn't do it, he would have been killed. "Even though Zetsu had told him to wait outside, he knew that he couldn't trust them. But he didn't expect orders for his execution so soon!

_'Zetsu-sama...'_

He had never expected Zetsu to agree so easily! It was Zetsu who had agreed to help him when he said he wanted to enter Akatsuki and become a full member of the organization. It was Zetsu who had given him the information on how he could achieve these goals. It was Zetsu who had supported him, even though he could no longer continue to be his subordinate after joining Akatsuki as a full member. Zetsu still supported him through all that. He liked him! Why would he—

But Tobi had to remember. There were reasons. Zetsu had to have a reason. He couldn't believe what he had seen. He couldn't. But even as he ran, he couldn't shake the memory out of his head. _'Zetsu-sama... Zetsu-sama had...'_

_Zetsu watching Tobi walk out of the cave. Deidara had disappeared suddenly. They could only assume that someone had found him while they were in the middle of their meeting. And after waiting a while, the Iwa-nin still hadn't returned. They couldn't continue without Deidara, so they adjourned for the day. Everyone else had returned to their present locations. Hidan and Kakuzu had left. There were only Tobi, the leader, and him left in the cave...until they sent Tobi to wait outside._

_He was sure that Tobi wouldn't run away. Tobi was obedient. From the time he joined him to the time he joined Akatsuki as a full member, to the time that he was demoted until now, he was still loyal to him. _

_Tobi wouldn't run away._

"_Did you have specific instructions for me?" Zetsu phrased the question as carefully as he could. He knew that Tobi's information wasn't as interesting as it should have been, but until they could prove that he had given them false information, they could still use him, right? He didn't have to--_

"_Kill Tobi."_

_Zetsu blinked for a moment before nodding. "Of course." He had expected this order eventually. He just didn't expect it so soon, but... "Immediately?" He didn't even need to think about his answer. For the organization, the answer was always yes._

"_We have his information. He's useless." The leader always came to conclusions that others missed. "Kill him."_

Zetsu had betrayed him without a second thought. Tobi couldn't stay and wait for his execution. More than anything, he feared being eaten by Zetsu, and he refused to experience cannibalism from the victim's end.

At least not _before_ he died.

So, he had no other choice. He had to keep running. If he stopped, Zetsu would come. If he stopped, Zetsu would catch him. And if Zetsu caught him, there was no other alternative but to die.

**B**right sunlight blinded him as soon as he walked out of the cave, so Zetsu didn't realize that he was alone until his eyes cleared enough to see. Tobi was gone. The Kusa-nin's eyes refused to register the betrayal a second time, not after Tobi disobeyed him before. So, it took almost ten minutes before his brain believed what his eyes were telling him. Tobi was gone. He was really gone. Not even his shadow remained on the ground.

"**Tobi!" **Zetsu's other half growled angrily. **"I'll kill him!"**

"That's the idea," Zetsu said to himself, not sure what his other half was thinking at this point. They had orders to kill Tobi. Whether he wanted to kill him or not, they still had to kill him. This anger would only make the order easier to perform.

Whether he regretted losing a subordinate like Tobi or not, his feelings didn't matter. All he knew was that he had to kill him, and that was what he was going to do.

**S**akura's fingers fumbled clumsily in their attempts to untangle her thoughts, but they only knotted themselves tighter. There were only a few memories at the edge of the bundle which allowed her to touch them. Bitter memories. Memories that she had wanted to let go, to tear out and throw away. "Go away!" She screamed, unable to contain her voice anymore. The pale hands of the dead clawed at her and wouldn't let go. "Go away! I have other things to taunt me!" She had other people to taunt her.

"S-Sakura-san?"

The pink-haired medic-nin turned her head held tightly by her two tense hands up to see Lee's worried face. Slowly, her muscles released the tight clumps of hair held captive between her abnormally strong fingers. "Lee-san..." Her confused word escaped slowly from her mouth. "...why are you here?" She had chosen a secluded place to think, specifically because she didn't want to be disturbed. _'How did you find me here?'_ She didn't want to ask that question. She didn't want to know the answer.

"I was..." Lee spoke slowly as well, as if he was hiding the true reason for his coming to his place. "...training!" He said the first word that came to his mind, something completely unreasonable. They were nowhere near the training grounds. "I needed to..." He was trying to find a phrase that would convince her that it was the truth.

Sakura doubted that he would find one. She already knew he was lying.

"...run through every street in Konoha for..."

"How long did it take for you to find me?" Sakura asked with a forgiving smile. It was already mid-afternoon. She had left her house early that morning to get away from Sasori. _'Does that mean he searched all day for me when he couldn't see where I am?'_ Just because she was pregnant didn't mean that she needed twenty-four hour supervision!

"H-how..." Lee stared defeatedly at Sakura, his youthful thoughts of persuasion draining from his mind at Sakura's question. "Five hours," he said with equally defeated tones.

"..." Even though Sakura had asked, she didn't really want to know. _'Five hours? Are you insane! Shannaro!'_ Inner Sakura was yelling. _'Do something more constructive with your time!'_ Sometimes, Lee was scary. If he didn't let go of her soon...

Sakura pulled her arm quickly away from a pasty thin hand clinging to her skin. "Go away!" She screamed at the ghost.

"Sakura-san?" Lee stared with watery eyes.

"No, I didn't mean you, Lee-san," Sakura said as she turned quickly to Lee. _'He can't see them!'_ She had to remember that he couldn't see them. _'They're only haunting me.'_ "Ano...Lee-san," Sakura said slowly as she tried to ignore the cold glares of the dead, stamping her with with curses. "I-I-I just want to be alone right now," she blurted in one breath. She couldn't think of anything else that would make him go away! "So—"

"Sakura-san!" Lee's determined stare blazed above her. "What a YOUTHFUL way of calling for help!"

Obviously, Lee didn't understand Sakura's subtle way of saying go away.

"No, Lee-sa—"

Sakura turned at the loud frightened screams coming from the village proper. Smoke cascaded into the air, marking the white clouds ashen with mortification. _'Sasori!'_ Even without concrete proof that it was the Sasori, Sakura couldn't stop the name from coming into her mind. Sasori... She knew that Sasori was—

Another scream.

Sakura leapt to her feet and ran toward the epicentre of the explosion, never once remembering that Lee was standing there, waiting for the rest of her sentence.

**T**he village was peaceful. _'Too peaceful.'_ Tsunade could almost predict bad news walking into her office. That was why as soon as Anko walked into her office, she asked, "What happened?" The first thought that came to mind was that it was something about Sasori and Sakura. That thought had been persistent for a while, and whenever anyone walked in, she would think that it was about them. "Is Sakura okay?"

Anko stared at Tsunade. The confused expression on her face could mean nothing other than that she had no idea what the Hokage was saying. "Hokage-sama," she said slowly as she finished walking into the office. "I don't have any news about Haruno Sakura." As for Sasori... She didn't even _want _to mention his name.

"Oh," Tsunade said slowly as she pulled herself from her desk. She had thought it was something about Sakura and had leapt halfway across her desk in an attempt to hear what it was. But it wasn't anything about her apprentice after all. "Then, what is it, Anko?" Tsunade tried not to sound too disappointed. It was supposed to be a _good _thing that nothing had happened to Sakura.

Although she couldn't say the same for Sasori.

"It's about Akatsuki."

Tsunade sighed inwardly. _'That news is equally as bad.'_ With what was happening in Konoha lately, she didn't want to hear anything about Akatsuki. She had already drunken several bottles of sake so she couldn't remember properly, but she remembered Sasori and Deidara in a deserted restaurant. It was suspicious. Two dangerous nukenin shouldn't sit unsupervised for long periods of time.

And she still didn't trust Deidara. Sakura could control Sasori, but she had never given Deidara permission to enter Konoha. She had to remember that he was here, and there was no other evidence of his harmlessness other than his word that he had left Akatsuki.

"There are two unknown shinobi wearing the black cloak of Akatsuki standing at our gates."

Tsunade immediately wrenched her thoughts away from Deidara's possibly dangerous presence in her village. _'Akatsuki?'_ She had expected them. Deidara had said that he had left the organization. They weren't going to let him leave so easily, but... _'Standing?'_ Only?

"Yes," Anko said with a slightly confused expression on her face. She didn't know why Tsunade was taking so long to register the words. _'Was she sleeping again?'_ Knowing the Hokage, Tsunade was probably sleeping, rather than not listening. The blond kunoichi had too much duty to ignore these important words.

"I wonder..." Tsunade mused to herself, "...what Akatsuki's doing, standing..."

"Tsunade-sama!" Shizune's frantic scream interrupted the Hokage's thoughts before could continue. "Tsunade-sama! Akasuna no Sasori—" The woman's shouts were muted by the screams of frightened villagers below.

Tsunade turned from her apprentice. Beyond the window, dark blankets of smoke cut across the sky. And Shizune's words, the single name she had said before the frightened shouts outside covered them, brought angry chakra raging through her body. The already crumbling walls disintegrated around her. _'Sasori!'_ She should have killed him when she had the chance. She should have killed him before he had this chance to destroy her village.

**S**hizune was the wrong person to ask. She was definitely the wrong person to ask. _'I didn't want to know that!'_ Not only did she explain what a lover was, she did it with agonizing detail, enough so that he had to back away, think of a good excuse to leave her, and abandon her in the middle of the night. And he had to carry that baka, Deidara, home as an excuse! _'Kuso! I didn't say that!'_ He tried to convince himself that he hadn't said anything like that, but he couldn't get the jounin's words out of his head! _'That's not what I said!'_

Sasori's throbbing eyes swept around the street, trying to see who knew, who had heard, but everyone seemed to know what he had said when he agreed to Sakura's lies. Everyone knew!

There was nowhere to hide from the accusations. Not even behind Sakura.

_'How?'_ He didn't know how, but they all knew! "Urusai!" H could hear them all taunting him for his stupidity. "I knew what I was saying!" He tried to convince himself that this was true, but his pounding thoughts kept pushing him in the opposite direction. No. He had no idea what he was saying. _'You...you all dare to taunt me?'_ He couldn't let them get away with it. He was Akasuna no Sasori! _'I'll kill you all!'_

The Suna-nin reached for his summoning scrolls, his thoughts as frenzied as Hidan's when he was in this same crazed state. There could only be one outcome, only one end that he would allow. He must... If he wanted their laughter to stop, their taunts to stop... If he wanted to ease the torrents of thoughts in his mind, he needed to...

_'Akahigi: Kyakki no—'_ Sasori reached for his chest. But before he could begin his attack, his hand bounced off his human chest. He couldn't open the chest compartment if it was no longer there. He didn't have his puppet body anymore. _'Ku—' _And he had only two puppets: one hitokugutsu made from Orochimaru, and the regular kugutsu he had made in the likeness of Sakura's father. _'Kuso!'_ He couldn't even use his most powerful attack anymore.

"Fine!" Snakes launched from the Orochimaru puppet, flying at the people around Sasori. As the first people began falling, the whole street launched into panic. "It'll just be slow," but he was going to kill them all!

**End Chapter 19**

---------------------------

Fire's English tidbits for those who care:

Here's an interesting thing I found. If you don't believe me, you can try it yourself. The words are in and into. First, definitions. In refers to something inside an enclosed space, and into refers to going from outside to inside. That's simple. The interesting part is that you can replace into with in, and the sentence will still make sense. However, if you replace in with into, it won't work. For example, "Sasuke walked into the room," is the same as "Sasuke walked in the room." But, "Naruto was sitting in the room," isn't the same as "Naruto was sitting into the room." --;; Try to prove it wrong. I'd be interested if you could.

Fire's babbling:

Sakura: Shannaro! Get out of my head, Sasori!

Sasori: But I'm not doing anything.

Sakura: (glares at Sasori) ...

Fire: Well, that was another chapter for another week. I think I'll kill Tobi next chap—

Tobi: (stares pitifully at Fire) ...

Fire: Um...

Sasuke: I already killed him in this chapter. (pulls up a later chapter)

Fire: --;; Okay. Well, I hope that chapter made sense.

Sasori: I get to kill people! Great!

Sakura: We're going to have to kill _you_ too.

Deidara: Aren't you telling people too much about my true intentions at once?

Fire: We won't even know if those are your true intentions until the end of the story.

Sakura: You better not be lying to us! (shakes a fist at Deidara)

Deidara: ...

Fire: Anyway, review! Show me that you exist! Unless you're happy being a hit point on the stats page. (looks at the stats page)

Sasuke: Finally, a short advertisement.

Kisame: Can't say the same for the clinging. (tries to pull himself free but fails) Cling to him! (points at Hidan)

Hidan: (addressing Kisame) If Fire clings to me, I'm going to kill you.

Kakuzu: (musing) I wonder if I'm allowed to collect the bounty of an S-ranked criminal.

Fire: Well! I don't want to know the answer to that! (turns to the audience) Tune in next week when we find out what happens to Sasori and the rest of the village.

Sasuke: And what about me? _I'm _the main character!

Naruto: I thought I was! It's called Naruto!

Fire: Um... (leaves quickly)

---------------------------


	21. Twenty: Harmful Rivalry

Fire: Another chapter! Yay!

Sasuke: What are you so proud of? I did all the work.

Fire: (points to self) I did _some_ work.

Sasuke: (stares at Fire) ...

Fire: Okay, I helped.

Tobi: Are you finally going to get to these today, Fire-sama? (holds up a huge bag of reviews)

Fire: --;; Um...on with the story!

Sasuke: At least read one.

Fire: I've read them! Um...I just...

Kisame: Fire's too lazy to reply.

Fire: I swear I'll do it! Just you wait! You'll all be receiving replies from me!

Sasuke: Can we continue on with the story now?

Fire: (sighs defeatedly) Yes.

Tobi: (looks around) You're talking to me?

Fire: (stares at Tobi) ...

Tobi: Yes! (pulls chapter 20 onto the screen)

---------------------------

**Chapter 20: Harmful Rivalry**

_**'H**ere, another day has passed. Summer has arrived and soon it will rain again. No, I'm not well. Is that enough normalcy for you? Last night, I dreamed you were by my side, listening to these useless words. But nonetheless, we were happy. If only you would return... If only you would stay by my side... I promise I will become better, stronger. I will become someone who wouldn't make you cry. I will work harder. So please, if you haven't left my world yet, return to me.'_

**B**y the time Kakashi arrived, the smoke had died down. The bodies of casualties—killed with poisoned kunai that could only belong to Akasuna no Sasori—lay between the sidewalk where he stood and the burning food stands. But even though the stench of wood filled the air, he couldn't see Sasori anywhere. _'Sasori...'_ His whole body shook with the thought of Sasori being nearby. The murderous intentions from days earlier still hadn't subsided.

He still wanted to kill him.

And now, he had even more of a reason to kill him.

He had thought about it for the last few days. Ideas on how he could kill Sasori without being too obvious that he had wanted him dead. And without Sakura hating him for it. Raising a child on her own wouldn't be easy.

_'Suiryuudan no jutsu!'_ The dragon of water rose from the pipes within the stands and crashed over the smouldering restaurants, sweeping the dead out of sight. Kakashi sighed at the destruction. He had thought that Sakura had the Suna-nin under control, but if she did... _'Then she's responsible for this?'_ Kakashi thought for a moment before shaking the idea out of his head. _'No! She can't be!'_ It was ridiculous! Sakura couldn't be responsible for something like this. But if she wasn't, that meant...

"Sasori..." The stressed growl rumbled angrily from Kakashi's throat. He had tried to hide his killer intent, but now...now there was no need to suppress it anymore. "Pakkun!" He turned to the ninken at his side. He had momentarily forgotten that he had summoned him. When he was running to so many fires, he had summoned Pakkun to help find the most damaged areas. Now he needed him to find something else.

"He's in that direction." Pakkun lifted a small paw and pointed. He didn't even need to hear Kakashi say it. Kakashi's mental, _'Where is that bastard Sasori?'_ was loud enough to penetrate his canine skull.

And the grey-haired jounin was gone before Pakkun could say another word. Like "be careful. He's still on the rampage." However, the small ninken knew that danger wouldn't be a problem. That dark face which had turned to him... Such killer intent that even the ninken shook immobilized. He had never seen Kakashi like this before. Such anger... Kakashi would definitely kill Sasori as soon as he saw him.

**P**eople scattered irrationally around him, running in all directions—including at his puppets and at him—but it was useless. Either way, Sasori was going to catch them. Either way, he was going to kill them. He had destroyed an entire country with his techniques. He couldn't use that technique anymore, but that didn't mean he still couldn't do it! A simple village like this...he wouldn't permit even a single survivor! _'Run! It's futile!'_ Sasori's crazed thoughts spilled across his laughing consciousness. _'I'll still catch you!'_ No one could escape Akasuna no Sasori!

Women, children, the innocent citizens of Konoha, he didn't care who they were! His puppets tore out their throats with equal indiscrimination. His poison had no restraint against targets. If they ran, he broke their legs. If they fought back, he broke their arms. If they tried to reason with him, he crushed their heads. The dismangled bodies of the dead and dying carpeted the ground, crunching beneath his feet as he walked. The thick scent of pain and blood saturating the air brought back memories and emotions that he hadn't felt for almost a year. It was the only thing that Sakura wouldn't allow him to do.

It was the satisfaction that could only be obtained through killing.

And he wanted to feel it for as long as possible.

Sasori had already marked his next target. The frantic human couldn't get away. His puppet was too fast! As he sent the Sannin hitokugutsu forwards, he could already see the blood gushing from—

_'Kuchiyose: Tsuiga no Jutsu!'_

His arm stopped in mid-air, in mid-swing. Orochimaru and his other puppet stood frozen. He couldn't move his arm. The sharp teeth of seven ninken sank into his muscles, locking them in place. _'Kakashi!'_ There was only one person who could use this technique. "You're early." He forced calm words out, even though he wanted to rip Kakashi's skin from his body. "Do you keep my scent in a vial, just in case?" From what he knew about Kakashi's technique, he needed a way for the ninken to find the target. His blood, or his opponent's blood was especially effective, but it just had to be a distinguishing scent.

"Scent?" Kakashi's fuzzy thoughts could barely take in what Sasori was saying. "I don't need your scent. I don't need anything when you're the only one in this village who smells strongly of wood and blood!"

"Hn." He should have known that it was something simple like that. "You've found me, but..." As soon as Sasori closed his eyes, he could see where the ninken were. The slight weights on his limbs, the large rows of teeth on his shoulders and arms, the one on his head... These minor differences were enough for him to judge where they were and how big they were. "You think you can stop me!" With a single swing of his arms, he threw them aside. "Konoha gaki!" And launched at Kakashi. "If you want Sakura so much, try to take her from me!"

Because that was the only reason why Kakashi would want to hurt him.

Over the last few weeks, Kakashi's transparent feelings had only sunk further into the village's consciousness. There was no other reason for everyone to shun him. A sensei can never be with his student.

Then, Sasori stole everyone's attention with Sakura's lie. The Suna-nin saw everything clearly.

"I'll kill you long before then!" Sasori wouldn't let Kakashi relax for even one moment!

_'Senei jashu!'_

Kakashi leapt back, his eyes catching onto the movement of the Sannin puppet a moment before the snakes flew at him. Sasori was using himself as a distraction. He had to remember that the puppets were also out here, and they were both going to attack him. _'Three against me...'_ But Sasori was his true opponent! He had to focus on the puppetmaster, not on the puppets!

"Kuso!" The Konoha jounin pulled the hitai-ate from his eye, but even with the sharingan, he couldn't predict the simultaneous movements of three opponents. As he pushed the regular kugutsu aside, Orochimaru's kusanagi flew past his head, slicing off parts of his hair before he managed to slide out of the way. But as he knocked the sword away, Sasori's presence by his side—with poisoned weapons in his hand—was already there.

_'I have to think of something!'_ As he tried to see everything, the Suna-nin was already planning his next attack. If he couldn't attack Sasori... He couldn't run away forever!

Besides, he still wanted to kill Sasori.

_'Senei Ta Jashu!'_

Snakes hurtled at Kakashi, but he was ready. He raised the kunai in his hand, decapitating the barrage before they could hit him. However, Sasori had planned for this moment. He knew that the same attack wouldn't work on Kakashi, not on someone with the sharingan, not on someone who had the same ability as Itachi, the ability to see through, understand, and copy an attack with one glance.

_'Nan no Kaizou!'_

"Kakashi," Sasori said with disappointment in his voice as he shook his head at the jounin. The Konoha-nin was bound with a human rope, the Orochimaru puppet's body tightened around the grey-haired jounin. "I thought it would have been more interesting." He pulled a kunai from his sleeves... "How disappointing." ...and plunged the poison-coated blade into Kakashi's chest.

Warm blood enveloped his hand for a moment before Sasori realized that something was wrong.

"Interesting?" The voice came from behind him!

_'Kawarimi!'_ Sasori turned, pushing himself away from the log as Kakashi's kunai dragged across his shoulders. "K-kuso!" The unnatural pain of a human body filled his senses. "Kakashi," he growled angrily as he glared at the jounin. But there was nothing he could do. He could barely see. All he could see was pain. All he could hear was pain. All he could taste was blood.

"Too much humanity, Sasori-_kun_?" Kakashi didn't have to look to see the falling puppets. With such a minor injury, Sasori was overwhelmed. For someone who had the unfeeling body of a puppet for over twenty years, his human body was his own enemy. "Let me..." He pulled a kunai from the wall, one of many that Sasori had thrown earlier, to kill the scattering villagers. "...end it for you."

"End?" Sasori didn't have the sense of humour to laugh. "_I'll_ end it for _you_!"

"Nani?" Orochimaru appeared between them. _'When? How is he controlling the hitokugutsu?'_ No matter how Kakashi looked at it, Orochimaru was moving on his own!

"I don't need to move to kill you!" All he needed was to see where Kakashi was. The rest will be left to his puppet half.

_'Don't need to move?'_ The chakra strings were almost unnoticeable, but if he concentrated, he could see that they weren't attached to Sasori's hands. They were attached to... "Sasori, you..." It couldn't be! "You..."

"See it now!" Sasori tore the cloak from his body. "I can't lose to you!" The shoulder blades on his back was enough to defeat Kakashi. "Ima..." Orochimaru clicked with anticipation. "Shi-ne!"

**T**he distance from the outskirts of Konoha to the core of the village was too great. Even running, she couldn't get there fast enough. She had to move faster. She had to get there soon! If she didn't... She didn't want to think about what would happen if she didn't. Sasori hardly listened to her. She didn't know what she could do. He was already tearing his freedom from her hands. She couldn't control him anymore, not really.

"Sasori!" She called for him as soon as she came to the edge of the destruction. Bodies lay everywhere. The buildings around her smouldered with recently extinguished fires. Ash and blood stained the ground, absorbing her footprints into the massacre with every step. _'You didn't do this, did you?'_ She thought she had more control over him. He couldn't... This couldn't be... "Sasori!" Not even her medical ninjutsu could save them. These people were already dead.

And Sasori wasn't there.

The pink-haired medic-nin ran forwards. If he wasn't here, she had to continue onwards. She had to find him! She had to find him before he killed anyone else. If she didn't know that he was responsible for this destruction, she knew now. The poison on those kunai, the ease and speed with which this part of the village was destroyed, the panic that still stained the air, all this could only be accomplished by Sasori. If it was Deidara, he would have had blown up the entire village with a single sculpture.

_'Sasori, when I find you, I'm going to crush your hands!'_ She would make sure that he could never make another puppet again!

**K**akashi couldn't believe it. Even though he was looking at them, he couldn't believe it. But his eyes kept poking him, telling him that it was true. _'No. Sasori's human!'_ But humans didn't have unnatural limbs like that! Those were the artificial wings of a puppet! _'He's...'_ Sasori was truly inhuman.

"Magnificent, aren't they?" Sasori could already see Kakashi's defeat. After waiting so many years, he could finally kill him! He could finally have vengeance!

There were many different reasons for the current members of Akatsuki to join the organization. Sasori didn't know all their reasons. Whether it was money like Kakuzu, religion like Hidan, or just plain power, Sasori didn't know. All he knew was that he wanted vengeance.

When his parents returned from the war, they were dead. Kakashi couldn't possibly have known the thoughts that ran through his young mind when they died. At that time, he was almost indifferent. He was too young to really understand. Parents who were preoccupied with the war, leaving him to be raised by his grandmother... He didn't feel much for them. But the hatred grew. As time passed, as he grew older, he wanted vengeance for wrecking his life. He wanted to kill the White Fang of Konoha.

But _that_ man was already dead.

"Do you know much much I _hate_ you!" Sasori shouted as he battled the pain clouding his vision. Orochimaru was a good puppet, but a good puppet was nothing without a good puppetmaster. "How much I want to kill you!"

Sasori knew that Kakashi wanted to kill him. He had done everything to make Kakashi hate him. He didn't want Kakashi to like him, and more than anything, he didn't want to like Kakashi. Coming to Konoha, keeping him away from Sakura, hurting Sakura, becoming someone that everyone trusted and making everyone hate Kakashi. It was going so well until Sakura came up with this lie.

Destroying Konoha was a small obstacle, if only to hurt Kakashi!

"Shi-ne! Shi-ne! Go to hell, Kakashi!"

_'There are no breaks in Orochimaru's attacks. How do I get pass him to Sasori?'_ Kakashi tried everything, including slicing off the Sannin's arms, but as soon as they fell from the hitokugutsu, the limbs flew back to the puppet's shoulders. _'Kunai?'_ There were already several stuck in the Sannin's body. _'Then, I have no choice!'_

Although he was lying. He had plenty of other techniques at his disposal, over a thousand! But he didn't want to believe that he wanted to hurt someone Sakura loved.

_'Raikiri!'_

However, he was still going to use this technique...

...to kill him.

The Sannin still stood in the middle of the street, ready to kill Kakashi, but within the moment, the hitokugutsu stood alone. Kakashi had disappeared.

_'Shunshin no jutsu?'_ But Sasori knew that it wasn't shunshin. It was...

The deafening shriek of birds burst through his lower abdomen, sending blood splashing across the air. Sasori's world reddened as he twisted his head around to see Kakashi's obvious satisfaction at his open stomach glaring at him...

...before the jounin pulled his hand away, and Sasori collapsed to the ground.

The redhead glared up at the grey-haired man. If only he wasn't human, he could... _'Kuso.'_ His mind wouldn't think straight. Pain overwhelmed him. There was nothing he could do. The blue vines of lightning thrashing relentlessly around Kakashi screeched for his death. And the jounin's deranged eyes held no chance for mercy.

He was going to die.

**S**akura waded through the destruction, but there was no sign of anyone. No one alive. There wasn't even a slight clue that could lead her to Sasori. _'And he's...fighting?'_ She couldn't see it, and there was no reason for her thinking he could be fighting, but there was the faint quiver in her chest, tugging at her, insisting that Sasori was in danger.

"P—" The first sign of life amongst these ruined streets. "Pakkun!" She skidded to a stop before she could step on the ninken. "Pakkun, what are you doing here?" _'Kakashi-sensei must be close.'_ And the urgent calls from Sasori suddenly became more frantic.

The ninken shivered pitifully. "Sakura," he said as he looked up at the medic-nin. "Kakashi..." His whole body shook with fear. "You have to stop him! He's going to..." The ninken could barely keep his nerves together. He had never seen such a frightening Kakashi before. "...kill Sasori."

_'No.'_ The pink-haired girl couldn't believe it. Sasori wasn't dangerous. There was no reason to kill him! _'I have control over Sasori. He couldn't...'_ Even though she suspected Sasori, he couldn't be responsible for this!

"Kakashi-sensei..." She couldn't let Kakashi hurt an innocent man! "Where is he!"

Sakura's shout sent Pakkun jumping into the air. "He's that way," the ninken said quickly as he pointed down a street cluttered with unmoving bodies.

_'Kakashi-sensei...'_ Sakura tore down the street, her chakra gathering at her feet, giving her more speed than before. _'Onegai...'_ She couldn't let him hurt Sasori. "Kakashi-sensei!" She shouted as the grey-haired jounin came into view. "Yamete!"

Her superhuman fist smashed into her sensei's head before she realized it. Kakashi flew, suspended in the air for a horrific moment before his body crashed to the ground, grating across the sidewalk before coming to a stop. Sakura could only stare, waiting for the sight of red spreading from her sensei's head.

But there was none.

"Kakashi-sensei," she said shakily as she waited for him to rise. If he wasn't hurt badly, he shouldn't lie there and scare her. "Kakashi-sensei, I knew it couldn't be Sasori." The jounin was shaking, trying to rise as she continued speaking. More than anything, she wanted to avoid explaining why she had to hit him. So, she had to say something, anything else, just to take the pressure off that topic! "It wasn't Sasori. I knew it couldn't be Sasori." She rambled on, her thoughts flying out of her head before she could speak, sending useless, senseless words pass her lips. "It was... It was you! You destroyed Konoha, Kakashi-sensei!" Her irrational mind came to that conclusion naturally after seeing the destruction around her.

"N-nani?" Kakashi sat up, staring at Sakura. "Me?" He didn't do it! "It was Sasori!"

"You attacked Sasori!" Pakkun had told her that Kakashi was going to kill Sasori. She hadn't wanted to believe the ninken, but Sasori was lying on the ground. Bleeding! "I knew it couldn't be Sasori! He wouldn't do something like—"

"And I _would_?" Kakashi couldn't believe that his student would accuse him of something like destroying Konoha and killing innocent people. Without a reason! "I'm _Kakashi._" He would never do something like that.

And Sakura knew it. As she glared at her sensei, she knew that it wasn't him. But that left...

"You!" She turned to the Suna-nin. "I knew it was you! You destroyed Konoha!" She stomped angrily on Sasori's chest. "The kunai all belonged to you! Look at the poison on this!" As soon as she tried to heal a corpse, she knew. No one in Konoha used poison like this!

"Sakura!" Sasori shouted as blood splurted from his wound. "Sakura, I'm bleeding! You should at least heal me before stomping on me!"

"Heal you? I'm going to kill you! How can you destroy Konoha?" Don't you think about your actions?" Sakura's foot ground the bleeding wound into the street. "I'm going to crush you in half!" She raised her foot, ready to kill Sasori.

But before she could stomp down, her body froze. Her leg, her arms, her head... Her body refused to move. _'Kanashibari?'_

"Sakura, stop. You're going to kill him."

"That's the idea!" She shouted at the voice, even though she had never yelled at him before. "Sasuke-kun!"

Even without turning around, she knew that the Keimu Butai, Sasuke's Keimu Butai was there. The ANBU were there. Tsunade was there. The rampage was over.

And she couldn't even punish Sasori for his actions.

**End Chapter 20**

---------------------------

Fire's English tidbits for those who care:

Hm...it took me a while to figure out what to write for this week, so here's something. When to use metaphors and when to use similies. When comparing something, you always have the choice between a metaphor and a similie. If you don't remember what those are, a metaphor is a comparison of two things without the words "like" or "as." A similie is a comparison of two things with the words "like" or "as." For example, "Orochimaru's like a snake," is a similie comparing Orochimaru to a snake, but "Orochimaru's a snake," is a metaphor comparing Orochimaru to a snake. So now that we have the explanations, when do we use them? When depends entirely on what the purpose of your sentence is. The choice lies in how strong you want the imagery. The imagery in a metaphor is much stronger than that of a similie. In the first example, Orochimaru is still Orochimaru. The fact that he is like a snake isn't too strong. But in the second example, Orochimaru becomes a snake. The imagery is much stronger than a regular comparison. Not only does snakes come to mind, but the association between Orochimaru and snakes become stronger.

Fire's babbling:

Sakura: (shaking angry fists at Fire) You should have let me kill him!

Fire: Um...

Sakura: He can't just destroy the village whenever he feels like it!

Sasori: (hiding behind Deidara) ...

Sakura: Stop hiding and let me kill you!

Sasuke: He's not going to die.

Sakura: But, Sasuke-kun...

Naruto: When are you bringing me back?

Fire: O.O;;; Um...I'm leaving now. (runs away)

Sasuke: Remember to leave us a review, or... (activates sharingan)

Sakura: (pushes Deidara out of the way and reaches for Sasori) Shannaro!

Deidara: (watches Sakura chase Sasori around the window, shakes head and turns to see a Sasuke with red sharingan) I think I'll just leave now, yeah. --;;

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	22. Twenty one: Difficult Choices

Fire: Another chapter, yay!

Sasuke: I want to kill you.

Fire: Waah! Sasuke's becoming scary! (hugs Kisame tigher)

Kisame: ...

Sasuke: I'm scarier than you?

Kisame: Apparently.

Fire: Anyway, I was rereading Naruto in Japanese and I realized that Itachi's sentences are so cute!

Itachi: Cute?

Fire: They're like the sentences that Ryuk says. Same syntax.

Sasuke: Wrong series, Fire.

Fire: Um...Ryuk from Death Note. I really like him. (hands Ryuk an apple) Apples for everyone! (throws apples to the audience)

Sasuke: (catches an apple) These are reviews.

Fire: (sweats) Um...now, on with the story! (nudges Tobi forwards)

Tobi: (sighs) You're going to kill―

Fire: Just pull up the next chapter!

Tobi: (pulls up chapter 21) ...

---------------------------

**Chapter 21: Difficult Choices**

_**'I** n the first hours of awakening, the light gathered inevitably around you, marking this person as sacred. That is why I can never let go. These hands were created to capture you. There is no other reason for their existence, like there is no other reason for my existence other than to find you again. The pain of losing the only person who could move my dead heart...all this mindnumbing sadness that engulfs my world, I can only suffer through it until it passes away.'_

**A** s Sai looked up, the Hokage tower came into view. He stopped long enough to suppress the apprehension rising in his chest. A few days had passed since they arrested Sasori, but the anticipation of an impending attack still hung in the tense air, sparking as he walked closer to the administrative building. But even the weights pulling at his limbs couldn't stop him. He had to see the Hokage. He had to tell her about Sasuke!

The other day, when she ran out of her office, he was on his way to see her. She ran past him without hearing him begin his sentence. But today, he wasn't going to leave until he told her. He had watched Sasuke long enough. There was no doubt that the dark-haired shinobi was unstable. Even though the Uchiha denied it, Sasuke should be under medical observation. Allowing him to work for the Keimu Butai was hazardous, especially for the citizens under his protection.

_'Sasuke, Naruto wound never want you to become like this.'_ So, with a deep breath, Sai knocked on the door to the Hokage's office. He had no real evidence, but the Hokage couldn't possibly ignore his observations.

**T** sunade tapped her fingers on the desk, unable to think of an answer to this problem. In one of the unused rooms of the Hokage tower, they were restraining Sakura. Anywhere else and she wouldn't arrive in time if Sakura tried to escape. The seals binding the pink-haired medic-nin's chakra were the same restraints they had placed on Sasori months ago, and the only thing keeping her apprentice from knocking her jounin guards unconscious and running after Sasori. She couldn't keep Sakura locked up forever. Especially when she had done nothing wrong. It wasn't as if Sasori didn't deserve a beating.

And that was only one problem.

The blond kunoichi pulled the medical report which had arrived that morning from the stack of other papers on her desk. Sasori had recovered from his injuries. Shizune had healed him to the best of her abilities, and it was enough to keep him from death. But that wasn't what bothered her.

It was the extra apendages on his back. Those shoulder blades scared her. For as long as she had studied medicine, she had never seen anything like it. She wanted to examine them, and see what they really were. _'No,'_ she thought sternly to herself. _'I'm sounding like Orochimaru. Stop it!'_

Now she was scaring herself.

_'Even if it's interesting, experimenting on a person is...'_ She shook the thoughts out of her head. She shouldn't even be thinking about it!

Tsunade dropped the report again with a sigh, and instantly pulled a second file from the pile. As her eyes fell across the first words, she had to lower the documents again. She couldn't continue worrying about _this_ problem. No matter what the report said, she already knew what Kakashi was doing. It was obvious. Too obvious. She couldn't even begin to imagine what Kakashi was thinking! Attacking Sasori certainly wasn't going to increase his popularity amongst the villagers, amongst the shinobi, or with Sakura.

Kakashi was also detained in an unused area of the Hokage tower. Ordinary chuunin guards, or even jounin guards weren't going to be enough to stop the grey-haired jounin, not if he really wanted to escape. Even some of the ANBU would have problems stopping the former ANBU taichou. Tsunade was seriously reconsidering who she had assigned to watch him.

_'But I'm sure they can handle him.'_ She had to trust that they could stop Kakashi if the need arose.

And that left her with the same problem that she had with the other two headaches. What should she do with Kakashi? She couldn't keep him detained forever either. He was only trying to protect Konoha. Right? That was what the reports said. But that wasn't the part she was worried about. She was worried about the parts _not_ written on paper. If she didn't think of something soon, a repetition of that same catastrophe could happen.

"Hokage-sama."

Tsunade jumped at the light knock on the door. "Sai!" She smacked the reports closed. "The door is open. You don't have to knock."

"Oh, gomen nasai," Sai said with an apologetic smile as he took his hand away from the surface of the door. "You looked busy. Am I disturbing you, Hokage-sama?" Even though he saw clearly that they were status reports on Sakura, Sasori and Kakashi, he had read enough from the book on communication and boundaries to know not to ask. If he asked the Hokage about the reports, he would be..._crossing a boundary_ was what the book said.

It was best to be cautious.

"No," Tsunade said as she sat back. "Is Sasuke giving you trouble? Did he threaten you? You want to transfer to a more reasonable assignment?" Something was obviously bothering him, and it was more than likely that it was Sasuke.

"Thank you for your concern, Hokage-sama, but it's not because of Sasuke-kun." He walked into the office. The door was left open. It wasn't a secret or anything really important. He didn't need to close it. "But I wanted to hand in my recommendations for the future care and surveillance of Uchiha Sasuke." He reached into his kunai pouch and unfurled the thin report onto Tsunade's desk.

"It's early, Sai," Tsunade said as she took the documents from the Ne ANBU. "Your status report isn't due until—"

"It's urgent," Sai said sternly. The book said that he should speak in a clear, forward manner, but the surprised look on Tsunade's face made him think that this wasn't the right time for sternness. "I meant..." He tried to rethink what he had to say. "...if you read the report, I mention that Sasuke-kun should be rehospitalized and placed under heavier surveillance." _That_ was what he was trying to say. "Over the last few weeks, Sasuke-kun's behaviour has been unstable. I highly suggest that we—"

"Sai," Tsunade interrupted slowly as she scanned the pages. "I understand your concern. This is..." She reread a sentence. Slowly. "...highly unusual behaviour. I'll have to observe him more closely on this matter, but..." Anko's words about Akatsuki was still fresh in her mind, and there was the problem with Sakura, Sasori and Kakashi, not to mention that she had her usual Hokage duties to perform. "I'll have to..." Tsunade's mind blanked at the last words in the report. _'Highly unusual? This is stranger behaviour than...'_ She flipped through the report again. "I'll send someone." She didn't know who yet, but she would find _someone. 'Yokata,'_ her thoughts sighed._ 'Another problem to contemplate.'_ It seemed as if she wouldn't even have time to drink these problems out of her reality.

**S**asori had been awake for a while. He just didn't want _them_ to know that he was awake. There were a total of over ten members of the Keimu Butai in his room, and he could sense the thin chakra of a few more in the hall. Although a dozen strong shinobi guarding a serously wounded person appeared to be overkill, he understood what the Hokage must be thinking. He had just destroyed several sections of Konoha and killed her citizens without a foreseeable reason. If he was intent on leaving, he could just kill these people too. It wouldn't be a problem for him.

Unfortunately, it wouldn't be a problem...only if he wasn't injured. And Sasori was seriously injured. He could barely see the ceiling of his hospital room. Even if he tried, he definitely couldn't overpower over twelve elite members of the Keimu Butai. And it was only the Keimu Butai! _'Kuso! If it was the ANBU, I'd at least have my dignity!'_ He should be able to defeat members of the Keimu Butai, no matter the situation! He should have escaped by now. Any normal person would have escaped. Any normal person wouldn't wait to face execution!

And he knew that he was going to be executed. The Kazekage was only allowing him to stay in Konoha out of good will, because he trusted that Sakura could keep him under control. And now...

_'Sakura...'_ He had hurt Sakura. He had betrayed her. Their lies... How could they continue them now? How could they continue them now that...

He would probably be sent back to Sunagakure.

"Chikusho!" He pulled tried to move his shoulder blades, but even though he had tried many times, they didn't listen. _'Tsunade...'_ His mind hissed with effort, but they still lay motionless. The Hokage had done something to cut the communication between him and his puppet limbs. The seals on the wood projecting from his back was only one part of it. He knew that there had to be something more. If he actually managed to escape, she wouldn't allow him to regain the use of these extra arms by just peeling off seals.

He couldn't use his shoulder blades anymore.

But that didn't matter. First, he should focus on escaping from his prison. Then he would find a way to move his extra limbs again. He couldn't use them now. That was the truth. But soon...soon he would find a way to use them again.

**F**or a long time, the Iwa-nin had thought about his options. Even when his former partner was destroying the village, his only thoughts were how to find the jinchuuriki. He had allowed himself to be distracted by everything for long enough. If he didn't hurry, he would only hurt himself...or rather, Akatsuki would hurt him.

But there was really only one option. Tobi's report on the location of the jinchuuriki was the only clue he had. He didn't want to take it, but he had no choice. He had no other leads on the location of the Kyuubi.

"There's no other choice, yeah." Deidara looked reluctantly at the Uchiha fan within blue shuriken which was the symbol of the Keimu Butai in Konoha. Even though it looked different from the police of Iwagakure, his mind couldn't help filling with the image of his hometown's police. He couldn't make himself walk into that horrible place. As a nukenin, he couldn't easily overcome the cries of danger sounding throughout his body.

Even if he was strong enough to kill everyone inside. Easily.

_'It'll only be for a short second,'_ he tried to convince himself even though his body shook with reluctance, even though his inner voice shouted that as soon as he walked through that door, they would kill him.

It was probably best if he waited for Sasuke to come out.

Deidara turned quickly around and waited across the street without debating the choice. He would rather wait for the entire day than go in _that_ building. And he _did_ wait an entire day before Sasuke came out. At dusk, when the sunlight had almost vanished completely from the increasingly dark sky, the black-haired shinobi finally emerged from the building.

The blond Iwa-nin thought that he had seen him. For a moment, as Sasuke pushed pass the doors into the cool spring evening, he stopped and stared at Deidara. The frown on his face deepened. But before either of them could speak, the Konoha-nin turned down the street and walked quickly away.

The blond nukenin stared confusedly, wondering if Sasuke had really seen him or not, before rushing after him. He had waited the entire day to speak to him. He wasn't going to let him leave without saying a word! "Hey!" Deidara caught the young Uchiha's shoulder before he could continue away. "I have to talk to you!"

But the red-eyed glare from the dark-haired shinobi sent Deidara stumbling backwards with surprise. _'Itachi-san!'_ His mind screamed before he could stop himself. The fear freezing his body was unstoppable. All he could do was grasp at what was left of the strength left in his legs. No matter what, he couldn't give him the satisfaction of scaring him. No matter what, he wouldn't collapse. But he was already slumped on the ground, his mind filled with fear.

Sasuke was definitely a dead end. He couldn't get anything out of someone like him.

That only left Sakura.

He knew where Sakura was. The Hokage had sent a letter to inform her parents. Naturally, he had read it. If Sasori was there, he would have read it as well. She was locked in the Hokage tower. And she was heavily guarded. Even if two members of Akatsuki, or even four, tried to get to Sakura, it wouldn't be easy. So, only one person alone, only himself, definitely wouldn't be enough.

That left him with nothing!

Deidara wouldn't allow it. He couldn't just do nothing and wait for death. He needed to see Sakura! There had to be a way around it, but even as he arrived in front of the room where Sakura was held captive, the jounin guards stopped him. "No visitors, by order of Hokage-sama," Neji explained plainly, as if it was enough to deter the nukenin. Even though he couldn't see the reason behind watching a girl sealed and chained to harmlessness, he had his orders to fulfil.

"I could care less. I don't have to listen to you, yeah!" Deidara pushed the jounin aside, but before he could even reach for the door, they stopped him again. "It's just for a few sentences. Listen if you want, but unless you want me to tear your arm off, don't touch me again."

Neji's eyes narrowed for a moment before releasing the nukenin reluctantly. "I'm coming with you," he said, glancing at the other jounin with a nod. If he fought Deidara here, in the middle of Konoha, a few days after Sasori's rampage, the entire village could be effectively destroyed.

He couldn't argue against Deidara.

**T**here was only darkness around her. Sakura had asked Neji to block all light away from her room. She didn't want to see what she had become. She didn't want to see the anger clouding her vision. She didn't want to see the ghosts haunting her, cluttering her world with their shouts of retribution. And most of all, she didn't want to remind herself of Sasori. If only a little light shone through to her thoughts, to clear the sanity away and wake her to reality, she would remember what the Suna-nin had done. And she wouldn't be able to stop herself.

Even though the countless seals tapered to her skin would stop her, even if she couldn't stop herself. Her chakra was effectively limited. Even with her incredible chakra control, she couldn't mould enough chakra to pull her arms from the taunt chains holding them in place.

If she struggled, the chains would cut into her limbs. Tsunade was kind and allowed her to sit, but her arms stretched from either side of her body. Tight cuffs linked to thick chains which flew to either side of the room, bolting themselves there. And strong chains tied her legs to the chair.

When they tied her to this room, she had wondered if it was Tsunade's idea, or if it was because of the village elders. She had wondered whose idea it was to tie her like this. She wasn't a threat. But then, with her enormous strength, and the anger she had felt at that moment, she could have destroyed Konoha. Even she was doubting that she could have stopped herself.

But she wasn't going to do it now. So why did they have to chain her? All she wanted to do was kill Sasori. That was it.

"Only for a short while," Neji's voice said from the door before daggers of light stabbed at Sakura's eyes. The pink-haired medic-nin closed them quickly, shielding her vision from reality. "Sakura, you have a visitor."

At the word visitor, Sakura's heart leapt from her chest, pounding at the thought that Sasuke could have come to see her. But as soon as she heard his voice, she knew that it wasn't Sasuke.

"So this is what happened to you, Sakura, yeah?"

She should have known that Sasuke wouldn't come to see her. "What do you want?"

Deidara stared at the girl. Even though she was immobilized... Even though he could easily tear her head off where she sat... Even though she could do nothing to stop him if he tried anything, she was still obstinate. _'Sasori-sama, where did you find such an annoying girl?'_ But she asked a good question. He had come here without thinking it through first. He couldn't just ask her. She would wonder why he was asking such strange questions.

"I was..." Deidara could see Neji waiting impatiently from the corner of his eyes. "I came to see how you were. Your parents are very worried, yeah. You should have been more—"

"Why are you here, Deidara?" Sakura knew that he didn't really come to see how she was. He could care less about her parents. They were only citizens of this village, as expendable as any other person in Konoha. He had another reason for coming.

Deidara's mind scrambled for a moment at Sakura's unexpected insistence. She knew that he was here for another reason. He couldn't think of a way around it!

Until his mind came up with an idea that only a genius like himself could think of.

"I was worried," he said with an indifferent shrug. "As a former part of Akatsuki, I know how much they want to capture the jinchuuriki, but I haven't seen him anywhere. I was wondering if you knew where he is." _'Take the hint! Tell me where he is!'_ With words so radically off topic from being worried about her and her family, she shouldn't be suspicious about this falsehood.

But Sakura remained silent. "Can you leave now?" She didn't tell him anything about the location of the jinchuuriki.

**T**hey didn't say it, but Kakashi knew that Sakura was somewhere in the Hokage tower. Even if he didn't know how Tsunade thought, it was common sense. The only person who could match and beat Sakura's strength was the Hokage. If Sakura escaped, no one else would be able to stop her. But even if she was right by his side, he still wouldn't be able to see her. How could he face her when he almost killed the person she loved?

She must hate him.

"How long am I going to be here, Raidou?" Kakashi looked up at the tokubetsu jounin. They had played cards for several hours, and now the cards lay discarded on the floor. "I told you that I was only trying to protect the village from Akasuna no Sasori. Why are you detaining me?"

Aoba stared at Kakashi, then looked at Raidou before speaking. "Where were you when the attack began, Kakashi?" Kakashi had arrived long before the ANBU, Keimu Butai, or any other shinobi could even get close to the destruction. "How did you arrive so quickly?" He had to have been following Sasori, searching for him before the attack began. So, did that mean that their fight... "The wounds on Akasuna no Sasori were serious. If you were only protecting the village, such extents wouldn't have been necessary." They all saw the massive raikiri flying across the streets when they neared...

Kakashi had intended to kill him.

"I was nearby," Kakashi said slowly, careful not to make himself look suspicious. He had intended to kill Sasori, but they couldn't know _that._ Even if Sasori was a nukenin, and even if Sasori was trying to destroy Konoha, he was still a guest, someone staying because their allied village, Sunagakure, trusted that they could handle him. If he killed him, or if they suspected that he wanted to kill him on purpose, the relations between Konoha and Suna would deteriorate. "Luckily," the grey-haired jounin said with a laugh. "If I was any further away—"

"Don't lie, Kakashi," Genma said sternly as he walked into the room. "Hokage-sama has decided what to do with you." He sat down and pulled a card from the ground. "She knew you were lying. We all do." Kakashi couldn't expect anyone to believe him when his hatred of the Suna-nin was so apparent. _'Four of diamonds.'_ Genma sighed as he braced himself for Kakashi's reaction. _'The problem is telling Sakura.'_ If she wasn't restrained, they could easily lose the entire building.

**A**t the main gates of Konoha, Hidan paced impatiently back and forth, back and forth, back and forth in an attempt to keep his melting mind occupied. If he didn't find something to do soon, he was going to go insane! He had intended to kill Tobi after the meeting, but the annoying spy disappeared. He couldn't even tear that arrogant mask off his face!

_'A message?'_ The nukenin stopped as words filled his head.

From within Konoha, Deidara's worries vanished as he realized what Zetsu was trying to say. Slowly, a smile formed. He had always wanted to do it, but he had thought it had to be in secret. But now, he had permission.

"Zetsu wants Tobi dead?"

Kakuzu saw the obvious joy on his partner's face. Hidan had wanted Tobi dead for a few days, and not being to kill him had annoyed him. This could alleviate his frustration. As for him, he didn't know how he felt about Zetsu's open invitation to kill his subordinate. _'There isn't a lot of bounty on his head.'_

But whether there was a lot of money on Tobi's head or not, the increasingly insane expression on Hidan's face told him that there would soon be a dead body in front of him.

**End Chapter 21**

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Fire's English tidbits for those who care:

Starting today, I'm going to go through words that should be deleted from the vocabulary of writers. Don't understand what I'm saying? That means that these words should never be used, and avoid using them if possible to increase your vocabulary. The first word is nice. Nice is used too often to describe neutral emotions, indifference and mild approval. A better choice of word would be amusing, polite, attractive, entertaining, good, etc. It would help describe what you're trying to say...unless it's dialogue and the character is trying to sound neutral. Next week, mad.

Fire's babbling:

Fire: Hm...we're nearing the end now.

Sasuke: Didn't you say that before?

Fire: Did I?

Sasuke: A few chapters ago?

Fire: ...

Kisame: You're going to kill Sasori, aren't you?

Sakura: (happy) Yes! I get to kill him!

Sasori: Don't you regret it even a little?

Sakura: YOU TRIED TO DESTROY KONOHA!

Sasori: ...

Sakura: Don't you have anything to say!

Sasori: ...

Fire: Um...I'm not going to tell you anything, Kisame.

Kisame: I can tell.

Fire: But you want to kill everyone.

Tobi: Does this mean I might not die?

Fire: ...

Tobi: You're not saying anything, Fire-sama.

Sasuke: That's a bad omen.

Naruto: (runs up) When are you bringing me back!

Fire: O.O;;; Naruto has been chasing me all week! I'm leaving now! Send me reviews. I need feedback. What do you think about the direction of the storyline? Do you want Sasori to die? Should Tobi die? Is the storyline too complicated and confusing?

Sasuke: Yes.

Naruto: Bring me back!

Fire: O.O;; Waah! Naruto! (drags Kisame away) Ja! (runs quickly away)

Naruto: Hey! Don't run away! (runs after Fire)

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	23. Twenty two: Boundaries of the Forsaken

Fire: (drawls) Hidan...

Hidan: (annoyed) What?

Fire: Do you know where Kisame went?

Hidan: Uh, no.

Fire: Can you find him for me?

Hidan: No.

Fire: I knew it! (jumps at Hidan) Kisame!

Kisame: (henge wears off) Chikusho!

Tobi: Ahem. (holds up the big bag of reviews)

Fire: Waah! I don't wanna!

Sasuke: Just do it. You're deterring people from reviewing.

Fire: (sniffs) Fine. (pulls out a review from the big bag of reviews) Ahem. Thank you all for your opinions. Um...I won't be killing Sasori any time soon, and uh...

Sasuke: I'm not killing myself! It was Itachi's fault that I died the first time! (glares at Itachi)

Itachi: (ignores the glare) ...

Naruto: Ano-sa! Ano-sa! (points to self) What about m― O.O;;; I'm not dying with HIM!

Itachi: Then you should have died with me.

Naruto: ... (stares at Itachi) I don't want to die with ANYBODY! (looks at Sakura) Unless it's with Sakura-chan!

Sakura: I have enough problems without dying, Naruto.

Sasori: Will Sakura continue to want to kill me?

Fire: Um...I can't tell you that. --;;

Sasori: But I want to know!

Fire: Uh...Tobi! Load the next chapter onto the screen!

Tobi: Finally! An easy job. (presses the button to load chapter 22)

Computer: Chapter will load in ten seconds...nine...eight...seven...

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SPOILER ALERT: Remember what I said at the beginning of the book? I said to remain up to date on the chapters. Think that doesn't apply anymore since it has been a while since the story began? Think again! Bwahahaha! Read the latest chapters or you'll suffer through spoilers! Read them! Read them! Can't find them? PM me with your email and I'll email them to you! Just read them! Um...if you want me to send you Naruto, remember to tell me what language you want. I carry scans in a lot of different languages.

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**Chapter 22: Boundaries of the Forsaken**

_**'H** ave you forgotten I'm waiting here? This stagnant air is suffocating me. The world refuses to turn, and time has stopped. The sun has vanished. Where have you gone? Where did you take the light? Where did you take the wind that once stirred my heart? Even with eternity covering me and immortality beneath my feet, how can I live without the person who can quicken the heartbeat of time?'_

**T**sunade stood up, rearranged the puppet, sat down again, and stared annoyedly at it. Even after positioning him so many times, he still didn't look right. _'How did he used to sit?'_ She couldn't remember. It had been a while since they actually sat down peacefully and had a serious conversation. Even though he couldn't talk anymore. _'Like this?'_ She rearranged a limb.

"Are you comfortable, Orochimaru?" Tsunade watched the Sannin from her desk, but the puppet remained emotionless. "Yes?" She knew that it was strange to talk to ther dead ex-teammate, but if she talked to anyone else about these thoughts, they would definitely tell her no. And she wanted to think freely about it first.

It was more humane if she thought about it first, right?

"What should I do about him?" Sasori... She still wanted to dissect him, even though she would never admit it. But she knew that she wanted to see why and how he had those strange limbs. She wanted to know if he was really human. With wood growing out of his back, he was more of a monster. How could she allow a monster near her apprentice? Especially when Sakura was in _that_ state. Shouldn't she just dissect him?

But even though she had asked, the Orochimaru puppet only stared forwards. The Sannin hitokugutsu couldn't answer her.

"I had that nightmare again," Tsunade sighed as she turned to her paperwork. With bad dreams such as those, how could she even imagine human experimentation? She had woken, covered with cold sweat in the middle of the night.

_The moonlight surged across the cold scapel in her tight fist as she passed by the window. Within the moment, she was standing by his side. Akasuna no Sasori. She had taken great caution in sneaking into the hospital room. The many members of the Keimu Butai that she had sent to watch over him where all people who were strong enough to be good guards but still weak enough for her to easily overcome all of them with a single genjutsu. _

_Within the empty room, she bent over the sleeping nukenin. He slept on his back, exposing the wooden limbs hanging on the brittle air like broken wings. It only made her task easier. She didn't have to flip him over to get to the objects of her curiosity._

_Tsunade pressed the fragile blade against the base of the wood. Then hesitated. 'No.' She knew that she shouldn't be doing this, but she couldn't stop herself. Her hand kept pressing the scapel against the skin. Soon it would break._

_'You really can't resist, Tsunade," Orochimaru's voice said from the shadows. From the corner of her eyes, she saw him leaning against the wall. "Advancement can't proceed without sacrifices. A human life... Two? It's nothing if it satiates your curiosity."_

"No!" Tsunade smacked the Orochimaru puppet. Even though she knew that it was a dream, she couldn't stop herself from hitting the hitokugutsu. "Why did you encourage me?" She refused to become like Orochimaru! "It's wrong! No matter what the reason!"

"Hokage-sama?"

Knocking came from the door, startling Tsunade. The blond kunoichi quickly threw a blanket over the puppet—even though the door was still closed—before speaking. "Yes, Kotetsu?"

"The ANBU you requested is here."

_'ANBU?'_ Tsunade thought for a moment. _'I requested an...'_ She tried to remember. _'Oh, yes. THAT mission.'_ It took a while before she managed to push her nightmare and Orochimaru out of her head, but her memory returned soon enough. "Send him in!" She straightened behind her desk. She had completely forgotten that she had sent Kotetsu to get him for her. If she wanted to prevent a disaster, she needed to focus on the Sasuke problem immediately.

"Hokage-sama," Kotetsu said as his eyes scanned the room. "Where you talking to someone?" He was certain that he had heard her talking to somone. And his eyes landed directly on the incredibly suspicious Orochimaru shaped object beneath a giant white cloth. "H-Hokage-sama, d-did you...?" She couldn't possibly have stolen Sasori's hitokugutsu when they weren't looking!

"Kotetsu, you're still here?" Tsunade said with an irritated smile. "This is a private conversation. Please, leave."

"But..." Kotetsu's eyes lingered on the object which he was certain was the Orochimaru hitokugutsu before deciding that it was best not to argue with the Hokage. She looked as if she could tear off his face if he said anything. "Yes, Hokage-sama." The chuunin left quickly before he could throw himself into any greater danger.

"As for you," Tsunade said as Kotetsu closed the door, sealing the room effectively. "I have a very dangerous mission for you, and I won't let you refuse."

**K** akashi waited, and he waited again, but Genma didn't say anything. Slowly the grey-haired jounin grew irritated. "Genma," he sighed as he looked dejectedly at the man chewing on his toothpick. "Do you have any intention of telling me what Hokage-sama has decided? Today?" He was sure that Raidou and Aoba was bored of waiting as well.

But Genma only stared into space, chewing on his toothpick and shuffing the reassembled deck of cards in his hands. "Hm..." The tokubetsu jounin looked at his friend. "You've been really reckless lately," he mused as he watched Kakashi. With his hands cuffed together, he couldn't even make a hand seal to escape. "You shouldn't have allowed your feeling to grow so attached to your student." He doubted that Tsunade would allow this kind of behaviour for much longer. A sensei was a sensei. A student was a studennt. Any other relationship between the two would only complicate everything.

"A shinobi should never show his emotions, ne?" Kakashi reflected on the rule "But that rule only applies to missions. There is no rule—"

"Kakashi," Genma interrupted before the grey-haired jounin could finish his reasoning. "I'm not saying anything against it. In fact, your future looks a lot brighter." The tokubetsu jounin grinned at the confused expression on Kakashi's face. "You should be more cautious now that your rival's leaving."

It took a moment before the words sank into Kakashi's one track mind. "Rival? Leaving?" That meant... _'Sasori's...'_

**T**he distinct bird of a foreign country circled over the Kazekage palace for a while before landing on the roof and allowing the message attached to its limbs to be removed. It sat, grooming its feathers as the decoders ran around it. None of the humans' movements interested it. The bird can barely understand what they were saying.

"G-give this to Kazekage-sama! Quickly!" The decoder pressed the deciphered message into the chuunin's hands before sending him away.

Gaara received the message not long afterwards.

The redhead watched the chuunin walk cautiously into his office with the translated note in his hands. "Is it important?" Gaara had a lot of other work to do. He could always make Kankurou do the paperwork, but there was only so much that his brother could do without making a mistake. Then, there were the confidential files that only the Kazekage could see. If he didn't have to read the message now, he wanted to set it aside for later.

But the chuunin only stood, shaking as he held out the papers. He didn't answer.

"I see," Gaara said irritatedly as he snatched the document from the man. The shinobi was obviously afraid of him. There was no point asking any more questions. He definitely wouldn't be able to find the answers in his frantic mind. "Leave."

The chuunin scrambled away, closing the door with a frightened slam.

_'Kazekage-dono,'_ Gaara read, and instantly knew where the letter came from, even though he hadn't read the heading which explained that it was an encrypted message from Konoha. _'What is it now?'_ The redhead sighed. He had left Sasori with them, even though he hadn't really wanted to do it. But the nukenin didn't seem like a threat at the time, and he was sure that Sakura could handle him.

Gaara lowered the papers, unsure if he should continue reading, but after a few moments, he continued again. It was important. It was definitely important. Tsunade wouldn't send him an encrypted message uness it was important.

_'As you believed, we have kept Akasuna no Sasori to the best of our village's abilities; however, at this time, we must return him to the care of Sunagakure no Sato.'_

The Kazekage sighed. He really _had_ thought that Konoha could handle him. _'Something must have happened.'_ Even though the letter didn't say anything about it, something _must _have happened if they wanted to send Sasori back to Suna...and to certain death.

He just couldn't accept the request without an explanation.

**D**eidara had searched for an inconspicuous way in, but with so many shinobi around, it was impossible to get into Sasori's hospital room without someone noticing. At least, it was impossible for anyone other than Deidara. The Iwa-nin had thought far enough to foresee this obstacle. _'Uchiha Sasuke's in charge of this operation.'_ He had discovered that much. _'So, it won't be unusual for him to walk in, yeah.'_ Before transforming, Deidara looked around to make sure the real Sasuke wasn't in the hospital.

As suspected, no one tried to stop him from going in.

"Taichou!" The members of the Keimu Butai straightened as soon as he walked in. They were obviously bored, watching a prisoner who had no chance of escaping. "W-what are you doing here?"

The fake Sasuke glared irritatedly at the man. "What am I doing here? Are you saying I should just stay in the headquarters and wait for Sasori to escape?"

The shinobi backed away as fear raked through his body. Sasuke was obviously angry.

_'Maybe I overdid it, yeah?'_ Deidara wondered at the frightened faces of the Konoha shinobi around him. He didn't know anything about Uchiha Sasuke. He didn't know how to pretend to be him since he didn't know how he was supposed to act. So, he was acting like Itachi. They were brothers. Logically, they would act like each other to a certain extent.

But it seemed as if he was acting _too_ _much_ like Itachi. He readied himself for an attack, his hands reaching for his clay pouches.

"Uchiha-taichou," a different shinobi in the crowd said slowly. "Hontou ni gomen nasai. We thought you were busy." The man's face was almost blue with fear. He was beginning to look like Kisame. "We—"

"Leave. I want to talk to the prisoner alone."

The ten shinobi who had been guarding Sasori nonstop for the last two weeks since his rampage stared at their taichou. Indecision filled their bodies. If they left, there was a high chance that this Sasuke—this _angry_ Sasuke—would kill him.

"I said leave!" Sasuke snapped, sending the Keimu Butai shinobi scrambling out of the room. Even though they were ordered to watch over Akasuna no Sasori, their orders didn't say anything about protecting him. And they definitely didn't want to fight Sasuke.

The door slammed frightenedly behind the group.

"I'd clap, but it hurts to move," Sasori said from where he lay. From the beginning, he had known that it wasn't Sasuke. "Why are you here, Deidara? Did you want to laugh at me?" Or blow him up?

"Nothing like that, Sasori-sama," Deidara said as he allowed the image of Sasuke to fade from his body. He felt disgusting. Just pretending to be someone related to Itachi was disgusting. He never wanted to do it again. "I was wondering..." He wanted to pull Sasori back into Akatsuki. Even though the possibility of Tobi returning to the organization had diminished to zero, he needed someone to help him find the jinchuuriki. If Sasori still said no later, he could always kill him. "...if you knew where the jinchuuriki was."

Sasori stared at his former partner. "Didn't you say that you had left Akatsuki?" Why was Deidara still searching for the jinchuuriki if he was no longer a part of Akatsuki?

"I did," Deidara said carefully, even though he knew that Sasori was too smart to be fooled by his lies. He wasn't dealing with an ordinary person. Sasori didn't trust anyone. But he had to try. "You know what Akatsuki is like. They won't give up until they have him, yeah. I'm just worried. I want to...help...him, yeah." He almost said capture.

"Of course," Sasori said slowly. But he didn't tell Deidara anything. The blond Iwa-nin was too suspicious. _Everyone_ was too suspicious in his opinion. But Deidara was especially suspicious. The blond nukenin probably didn't notice it, but he wasn't acting like himself. This concern... Deidara didn't care about other people! But he couldn't pretend any other way. If he didn't act this way, he wouldn't find the information he needed. "I don't know where the jinchuuriki is," the Suna-nin lied.

Sasori didn't know why he was protecting the jincuuuriki and Sasuke. It was all on an impulse. Perhaps his human side was taking over. Perhaps he felt guilt for destroying Konoha and wanted to protect it from another tiresome fight so soon since the last battle. Whatever it was, he didn't care. All he knew was that this was the side of Deidara that he hated the most!

"Now, what did you really come here to say, Deidara?" He growled angrily, trying to hold in his rage before letting it explode. "Do you want me to come back to Akatsuki!"

"Sasori-sama's so observant," Deidara said, not even trying to cover the truth anymore. If Sasori decided on something, he wasn't going to change his mind. Sasori knew that Deidara was still working for Akatsuki. Nothing that the Iwa-nin said now can change that fact. "Destroying Konoha...you're trying to join us again, yeah?"

"Bakayarou!" Sasori's fist flew at Deidara, but missed as the Iwa-nukenin stepped back. "I don't want to go back to that damned organization!"

Deidara watched amusedly as his former partner strained against the seals on his body. "What happened, Sasori-sama?" With such weakness, you won't even be able to escape execution much less join Akatsuki, yeah." It was obvious. Sasori probably knew by now. They would probably send him back to Suna, and if he returned there, they would definitely execute him. "But with what you have done, you probably want to be executed, ye—"

"Uchiha-taichou!" The combined voices of the Keimu Butai members in the hall shouted suprisedly before the door slammed open.

And Sasuke stood glaring at the two nukenin. "You," he said, his eyes drilling into Deidara as he spoke. "Get out."

The Iwa-nukenin stared at the dark-haired shinobi. He really looked like Itachi. For a moment, he had thought that he was actually _looking_ at Itachi. Again. However, this time, he managed to hold onto his rationality. Itachi was dead. It couldn't be him. "Of course, _taichou_," Deidara said mockingly as he left the room. He had already said everything he wanted to say. He had all the information he could get. There was nothing else to do.

So he left without argument.

Sasori watched the nukenin go before turning to Sasuke. "Sasuke," he said quickly before the dark-haired shinobi could ignore him. "Deidara—" But the Uchiha glare stopped him before he could say anything more. The pressure from one glance oppressed him completely. It was the same controlling power that Itachi possessed. There was no arguing with this expression. No matter what he said, Sasuke would only ignore him.

Even if he was trying to tell him that Deidara was going to betray Konoha.

The dark-haired taichou left, sending the ten shinobi in from the hall.

And Sasori sank into his bed again. It seemed as if he couldn't escape from his current fate. No matter what happened... Whether he lived or died... Whether he was truly the father of Sakura's child or not... Whether Sakura loved him or not... This man... This annoying man... Uchiha Sasuke would always hover not too far away, holding the painful past that he shared with Sakura over his head. Ten years of emotions couldn't vanish overnight.

That applied to Sakura.

And that applied to him as well.

**T**he message was clear. Even though he wasn't an offical part of Akatsuki anymore, Tobi still heard their messages. When it was broadcast to everyone, he could still faintly hear them. That was how he knew that it was true. Zetsu had decided to kill him. And there was nothing left for him to do but run. He had to run, or suffer the many cruel techniques of Akatsuki.

**T**sunade plopped exhaustedly over her desk, her muscles melting as she stared at the letter in her hands. The reply from Suna was swift. Too swift. She should have known that the Kazekage was going to make returning Sasori to Suna difficult. "What is your reason?" She read aloud. There was only one line. There was no greeting, no formalities. Gaara was too direct sometimes. He suspected that she wasn't serious.

If she didn't give him a good explanation, he probably wouldn't take Sasori back to Suna.

He knew her well enough to know that she could have sent the message out of anger. Not wanting Sasori around...he could have been annoying her to the extent where she would send him to his death. And that wasn't a good enough reason to kill him.

Then, there were the rumours about Sasori and Sakura's relationship. They had probably spread to Suna. Ino was thorough. Sometimes, Tsunade wondered how the blond chuunin managed to send and receive her gossip so well between Konoha and Suna.

If she knew, she probably wouldn't need to wait for the birds to fly between the two hidden villages.

**End Chapter 22**

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Fire's English tidbits for those who care:

This week I have another word that I've deleted from my dictionary. Chances are, you won't find me using it unless I've run out of synonyms, and that might never happen. Anyway, the word is "mad." If you look up mad in the dictionary, it means crazy or insane, but it is used in colloquial English―otherwise known as spoken English―to mean angry and annoyed, or in the case of "mad about" something, enthusiastic or fond of that thing. To avoid confusing readers, avoid using this word...um...unless your character is the kind of person who would use it. Like Naruto. --;; Then, go ahead and use it.

Fire's babbling:

Fire: Um...I'm not sure if anyone noticed but...

Sasuke: When Deidara was pretending to be me, he was still using words he would say, not what either I or my damned bastard of a brother would say.

Itachi: ...

Sasori: That's how I knew it was him. Baka.

Deidara: I thought it was pretty good, yeah.

Sasuke: I act nothing like this bastard! (points angrily at Itachi)

Naruto: Are you pointing at me?

Sasuke: Naruto! Itachi has captured you again! (grabs Naruto away from Itachi)

Itachi: (stares at his hands were he was holding Naruto a moment ago) Give him back.

Naruto: O.o;;

Fire: Um...I guess you should all leave a review now. I need your opinions. Lots and lots of opinions.

Kisame: Unless you don't think―

Fire: Kisame! (jumps on Kisame)

Kisame: Waah! Leech! Get it off me!

Sasuke: Ahem. Just tell us who you think should kill Tobi. Fire has been pondering over it for the last few months.

Kisame: Kuso! I just went to feed Samehada and―

Fire: Waah! You killed someone without me!

Kisame: --;;

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	24. Twenty three: Songs of Frustration

Fire: Yay! I've finally come to the last part of the story!

Sasuke: Why don't you address this review first?

Tobi: (pulls a review out of the Big Bag of Reviews) Here, Fire-sama.

Fire: But I--

Sasuke: You should explain yourself.

Fire: It's complicated. (sighs defeatedly and turns toward Kazumi-san) I know that the story was lagging a little in the last two chapters or so, but it's because I needed to set up everything for this chapter. I needed to write a time skip like I did in the first book. (looks around) You don't remember? I wrote a time-warp paragraph and skipped a month in the first book, Wait for Me: Leaving. Anyway, that was simple since there were only three characters, one main plot and one subplot to worry about, but this time I have almost ten different characters, two main plots and three or four subplots to worry about. --;;; That means that in order to write a time-warp paragraph, I need to get everyone onto the same timeframe, which is a little more difficult since everyone's individual plotlines were in different timeframes. (looks nervously around) Um...I hope that made sense. Sorry about the lag, Kazumi-san.

Sasuke: I think you confused everyone here.

Kisame: I'm confused.

Fire: Waah! Kisame's being mean!

Kisame: I'm only telling the truth. What's a time-warp paragraph?

Fire: It's something that I invented a few years ago. It's like a time skip, but written within a single paragraph. I summarize everything that happened off-set for a set period of time, in a single paragraph. But it has to flow with the story and make sense, so it's difficult, especially if you have many characters at once. You have to explain what happened to everyone during that period of time, right? But the more time it is, the more difficult it is. You can't just have someone doing the same thing for an entire month! That's just not possible! So, if Naruto was eating ramen at the beginning of the time-warp, he would have finished long before the end of it.

Sasuke: Did we talk about this before? In the first book?

Fire: I feel deja vu too. --;; Anyway, there are three ways to write the passage of time. I used one in this story. There is a second kind in the first book. If you've read it, you might not even realize that time had passed that quickly. Um...the example in this book isn't a time-warp paragraph though. It's just one of the common ways of skipping time. Anyway, this is getting long. If you want a detailed explanation, send me a review or PM me. I'll explain it then.

Tobi: And the other reviews—

Sasuke: We dont' have time! Look at how long it is already!

Fire: I don't meant to talk so much. It's just that—

Sasuke: Urusai! Just go on with the story!

Fire: Waah! (bows) Thank you to everyone who reviewed!

Naruto: Do I come back yet?

Fire: Soon. I promise Naruto.

Sakura: Let's go! The story can't wait, shannaro! (pushes Tobi forwards)

Tobi: (pushes chapter 23 onto the screen) ...

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Disclaimer: The phrase "time-warp paragraph" belongs to Fire no Kumo. Even if you try to steal the phrase, you still can't steal the actual use of the time-warp paragraph, right?

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In case you forgot about the legend, here is a short explanation. All other legends still apply.

Legend:

Regular Text

"Speech"

_Flashbacks or dream sequences_

_'Thoughts'_

"_Hidden speech, ie. speech that not everyone can hear"_

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**Chapter 23: Songs of Frustration**

_**'S**lowly, unstoppably, the world is falling apart. First goes the eyes with which I saw you. Then goes the words with which I searched for you. But let me keep these hands. Please, let me keep these hands. Because in these hands, I keep the memory of your warmth. In these hands, I remember the days when I still held you.'_

**T**he message from Konoha came after a week. Gaara waded desperately through thick piles of urgent documents on his desk so that he could read it. Even though he didn't like to admit that he was curious, he was still human. He had curiosity, and he needed to know why Tsunade wanted to send Sasori back to Suna.

_'Regretfully, as long as Akasuna no Sasori is within our village, we cannot maintain the security of Konohagakure. Therefore, the circumstances regarding the citizenship of the former Suna-nin has changed. He is currently confined to the best of our abilities. We request that someone retrieve him as soon as possible.'_

Gaara stared at the letter for a moment before placing it neatly on his desk. Plainly said, Sasori attacked Konoha. Now, they have him confined and closely under guard, but they want to send him back to Suna as soon as they can. _'So, something happened?'_ The redheaded Kazekage couldn't think of any way for Konoha to lose control over Sasori. Sakura was supposed to have absolute control over him. And rumour around Suna and Konoha was that she was carrying an Akasuna child.

And the other parts of the letter... Sakura _wants_ to kill Sasori as well. He just didn't believe it.

The answer would definitely have to be no. He didn't want an Akasuna to come to Suna, asking for vengeance. Unless Tsunade could send a good explanation why he should do it, he was definitely saying no.

**O**n its last flight from Suna to Konoha, the message carrying bird almost collapsed. So, Tsunade didn't want to send another letter to the Kazekage, but she needed to thank him for considering her request. He was giving too many excuses. She could see that he was trying to decline. If he really wanted to kill Akasuna no Sasori, he would have accepted without asking all these questions, without arguing that he didn't do it for the sake of someone he barely knew, for Sakura.

For the last month, Tsunade had sent the answers to Gaara's questions, and he had only sent more excuses, more reasons why he shouldn't do it. _'Why?'_ Naruto must have influenced the redheaded ex-genin from Suna more than she had thought. But whatever it was, she couldn't rely on sending the Suna-nukenin back there. Gaara definitely wasn't going to take care of this problem for her. She needed to think of an alternative.

But what could she do with Sasori?

**W**hen Konoha's message arrived, Gaara was almost relieved. Almost. He would never admit that he was relieved, even though he was secretly glad that he didn't have to argue with the Hokage any further. She was almost as stubborn as Naruto. And he had never won in a fight against Naruto. Eventually, he always gave in.

That was why he was glad to see the short note, thanking him for his consideration.

Gaara had spent the last four weeks walking around Tsunade's requests, and slowly, he was entangling himself in tighter and tighter knots. Now, he didn't have to worry about his excuses anymore.

He didn't want to kill Sasori. But it had nothing to do with Naruto. It had nothing to do with Sasori either. He truly believed that Sakura didn't want to kill him. If he knew her as well as he thought he did—and he was sure that he knew her well enough—he knew that he was right. A girl like that... He remembered the determination in her eyes, in the shaky strength she had possessed at their first meeting. Never once did she try to run away, even though she stood in the shadow of Shuukaku's strength. A girl like that would never change her mind. A girl like that would never hurt her precious person.

That was how he knew, even without asking her. He knew that she would never want to kill the father of her child.

**S**akura didn't know what had happened, but even after waiting for four weeks, she was still in her cell. The days only dragged on, one after the other. She only had the notebook that Sasori had given to her months ago, the notebook she had already memorized, that she could recite by heart. That notebook was the only thing keeping her sane.

A week after they locked her in that room, they untied her hands. Neji looked at her with his serious expression and told her that if she tried to run away, they wouldn't hesitate to kill her. They would treat her as any other nukenin. It was enough to keep her from trying to escape, although she wanted to leave. She wanted something else to do.

Something other than reading that same notebook for the thousandth time.

Lee came often. In those four weeks, he came to see her. Neji could never keep him out. But, he was never good at helping time pass quickly.

All she could do was wonder what was happening, why Tsunade hadn't released her yet. Tsunade had to know that she wasn't a threat, right?

**F**or the last month, Sasori knew his fate. Sasuke didn't hesitate to tell him as soon as Tsunade had decided to send him back. So, why hadn't they sent him back to Suna yet? If everything was decided, he should have arrived in Suna long ago. If everything was decided, he should have been executed already.

But he was still alive.

Why?

He had asked the members of the Keimu Butai that guarded his room, but they always ignored him. Of course, why would they talk to someone like him? As far as they knew, he was the criminal who killed so many people. In a single afternoon. To them, he was worse than a criminal. At least criminals felt remorse.

All Sasori felt, was regret that he didn't kill Kakashi when he had to chance. All Sasori felt, was regret that he couldn't convince Sakura that Kakashi had to die.

No remorse.

If he needed to destroy Konoha to kill Kakashi... If he needed to destroy Konoha to convince Sakura that it was right, he would do it without a second thought.

**F**our weeks had passed, and there were still no orders from the Hokage. The people he oversaw in this task to watch Sasori were becoming restless. Sasuke had to admit that he was restless as well. In these four weeks, he had plenty of time to reflect on himself. Slowly, the memories were returning. He didn't have to tear his mind apart to see the truth.

Naruto was gone.

Kind of.

There were still areas of his memory clouded with uncertainty. Those areas were the most difficult to see around. Beyond them lay parts of his past previously unfathomable to him. Behind those fragments of his mind were actions and words he couldn't even imagine, but which were already done and said. In those parts of himself that he had forgotten long ago lay Naruto, somewhere.

But the reluctance to remember still clenched tightly to his torso, clutching, digging with clawed fingers, telling him with harsh words that he had to forget him.

And he couldn't remember why.

Sasuke saw the world clearly, with such perfect vision that the world blinded him. He could remember everything, everyone. His head was never as clear as this time.

But when he came to that name, that memory... When he tried to remember Naruto, darkness rose around him and engulfed him completely.

_'I...'_ He never wanted to be by Naruto's side more than when he couldn't remember. _'I died?'_ He never wanted to be by Naruto's side more than when he _could_ remember. _'But Naruto...'_ He never wanted to be by Naruto's side more than when he was breathing. _'What happened to you?'_

That was the one thing he yearned to know. And in one of those lightless clouds of memory lay the answer.

**S**ince he heard the news from Genma, Kakashi had waited. He waited for the day when his only present rival, the only true rival he needed to worry about, would leave. But the day still hadn't come. Within the Hokage tower, long after Sasori's injuries had healed and they moved him to the adminstration building, there was no movement to take the Suna-nin anywhere else. If he knew that it was going to take this long, he would have just killed Sasori as soon as he was released. The ordinary jounin in the Keimu Butai couldn't stop him if he really wanted to do it.

"And you're following me around, Kakashi-senpai." Yamato tried not to give too much attention to the grey-haired jounin, but it was difficult not to say anything after four weeks. Whether he showed that he knew that Kakashi was there or not, the jounin wasn't going to go away.

"But there's seriously nothing to do, Ten—"

"I'm _using_ the name Yamato. Remember to use it," Yamato said quickly. It was a habit. Kakashi usually just said whatever he wanted. He didn't expect his request...

"I'll try, Tenzou."

...to work.

Yamato sighed. Watching Sasuke with Kakashi's conspicuous personality wasn't easy. He was trying his best to be inconspicuous, but even Sai was doing a better job.

"Don't worry, Yamato-taichou," Sai said with a smile. "I won't tell anyone your real name."

The ANBU taichou slumped defeatedly. _'Great. Just great. Sai heard everything.'_ He should have refused as soon as the Hokage summoned him to her office. He had already done one favour for her. Taking Kakashi's place and watching his team while he recooperated was tiresome. He should have avoided these missions.

But he just couldn't say no. Not after she listed so many names of other shinobi she had already asked. After all, there weren't that many people who could handle an S-ranked mission. And watching Sasuke had suddenly become an S-ranked mission.

Tsunade had already told Sai, so there was no need to tell him about it. On the other hand, Kakashi and everyone else didn't know about this danger. The sentinels at the gates of Konoha were told to watch them, but not to alert anyone about this occurance. The two Akatsuki members that had appeared were just standing there anyway. There was no real danger.

But that was until four weeks ago, when they disappeared.

A few teams of ANBU were sent to search for them, but no news had arrived about their current whereabouts. Yamato was worried about that. If they were after Sasuke, and Sasuke's ability to summon the jinchuuriki from the dead...

He needed to watch Uchiha Sasuke closely. He needed to throw all distractions aside.

"Hey!" Over another page of Icha Icha Tactics, Kakashi watched Yamato with a hurt-filled eye. "Why did you throw me?"

Yamato tried to think of an answer to Kakashi's question. Throwing distractions aside seemed more difficult than he had initially thought.

**A**fter searching for so long, Deidara had found nothing. If he was still in this village, the jinchuuriki had to eat, had to sleep, had to do all the things that living people did, right? But there was no sign of him. Anywhere. It was impossible that he was still in this village.

That was what Deidara thought.

But Zetsu couldn't be wrong. Zetsu was never wrong. To be wrong would mean that he was fallible, and as a member of Akatsuki, he had to be omnipotent. Practically omnipotent. For Zetsu to see wrong, to mistake someone else for the jinchuuriki...that was truly impossible.

So, the Kyuubi had to be in Konoha. Even though he had found no evidence to support the claim... Even though everything he had found so far pointed in the other direction...

If he failed, he could blame it on Zetsu.

Deidara looked up at the Hokage tower. His gaze naturally drifted in that direction. Over the last month, he often found himself staring at the building, and even though he would never admit it, he would think about Sakura. That girl was suddenly on his mind, constantly.

He didn't know when it began. He didn't realize it until recently, when he caught himself staring up at that tall building, and thinking about her. This little girl... He remembered her now. Even though he couldn't remember for the longest time... Even though he knew that he had seen her before, he didn't remember until recently, as he thought about her.

This was the girl who was with the Kyuubi's jinchuuriki when he first saw him. This was the girl who had sealed Sasori away. This was the girl who was smart enough—even though she wasn't experienced enough—to defeat his former partner.

If he could convince her to do it, she would actually make a good partner. Unlike all the other partners he has had recently. If he could convince her to do it, she would probably find the jinchuuriki without trying. In fact, she probably already knew!

_'I need to make her tell me, yeah.'_ It was the only chance he had to find the jinchuuriki. After searching for four weeks, he knew it well enough. He needed to convince Sakura to help him. It was that, or give up searching for the Kyuubi. Whoever was hiding him was hiding him too well. If Sakura didn't help, he would never find him.

**T**he room was so much like the room in Orochimaru's compound that sometimes, Sakura forgot that she wasn't in Otogakure no Sato anymore. With the same windowless room, the blank walls glaring at her, the dark haze that hung over her, the book that she studied endlessly for no foreseeable reason, it was easy to forget where she was. The fragments of guilt clawing her skin were the only reminders that she was in Konoha. But after four weeks of waiting in that dark room, she easily mistook Neji for Kabuto, and Lee for Orochimaru.

Even though they were both dead.

_'Ah, he came again.'_ In the darkness, it was easy to sense the smallest light crawling around the first movements of the door. _'Orochimaru...'_

But it wasn't Lee today.

Sakura blinked as she stared at the jounin. For a moment, she thought she recognized him. "Hokage-sama said you can leave," Neji said without the slightest explanation.

_'Hokage-sama?'_ Slowly, Sakura's mind gathered its thoughts. "Leave?"

"She said you can go," Neji said bluntly. Keeping them there for four weeks without any reason, Neji had to wonder what the Hokage was thinking!

"I should leave," Sakura said as she pushed herself onto her shaky feet. Over the last few weeks, she had grown much larger...or rather, her child had grown much larger. She hadn't stood or walked enough to understand the sudden shift in her center of gravity. Just standing was incredibly hard.

"D-do you want me to help you?" Neji said slowly.

But she could see that he didn't really want to help. Nothing was more awkward for the jounin than something like this. Than normal human interaction that had no guidelines. He didn't have experience with people outside of work.

"I-iie. Arigatou." Sakura turned for the door. "I'm fine on my own." At least, she was until she came out of the building. By then, she was already at her limit. Her feet weren't accustomed to the extra weight.

And she tripped...

...and fell...

...into a pair of open arms.

_'Sa...'_ For a moment, she sank against the comforting warm hug. _'Sas—'_

The smell of clay!

Sakura threw Deidara back. "Don't touch me!"

"I should have just let you fall, yeah," Deidara said annoyedly. The evil light in his eyes betrayed the thought in his head.

"If you push me, I'm going to kill you," Sakura said as she glared murderously at the nukenin.

"Push? I would _never _do that, yeah," Deidara denied, even though she saw the intentions clearly.

"Never touch me again," Sakura's heavy voice warned as she stumbled slowly away. She wasn't _that_ pathetic yet. She didn't need an untrustworthy nukenin's help.

**T**sunade smiled at the Hyuuga jounin. He had come with a complaint, since he was worried about Sakura. "Why did I lock her up without telling her why?" She thought to herself, her head tilting subconsciously as she remembered her reasons. "I'm glad you're worried about Sakura, Neji." With all that had happened recently, she had almost lost sight of the positive people in Konoha.

"I'm not worried," Neji said sternly, even though there was probably a little...a very little...bit of worry beneath his mind's peripheral logic. "As Hokage, imprisoning a person without reason..." Obviously, that was unacceptable behaviour.

"Orochimaru told me to do it," Tsunade said with a smile, sending shock onto Neji's face. "You know he's in here, don't you, Neji?" Nothing escaped those white eyes.

"Yes," Neji said, although he had tried to avoid the topic of why the Sannin puppet was in the Hokage office. _'Is Hokage-sama hallucinating?'_ He refused to believe in that possibility.

"I'm worried about Sakura's well-being. Obviously," Tsunade said slowly as she pulled the middle drawer of her desk open. "She chose to have this child, but..." She had to lock Sakura up. It was for the best. There has been so much stress lately... "...with the incident at the hospital where she lost control of her cursed seal, the attack at the Uchiha estate where she almost collapsed, and now this..." So many sudden changes in Sakura's emotions couldn't be good for the baby. "If I didn't interfere, there would have been a miscarriage by now." Tsunade pulled two thin pieces of paper from the drawer. "I had permission from her parents. They knew about her imprisonment." Tsunade was suddenly serious as she watched Neji's expression. "Is that what you were worried about?"

A perfect explanation.

Neji scanned over the papers. They knew. Both Sakura's mother and Sakura's father knew about it. Somehow, it put his mind at rest. A little. "Are you going to tell her about this?" He set the medical report onto the Hokage's desk again.

"Sakura?" Tsunade's face melted into a carefree smile again. The seriousness that had adorned it a moment ago vanished. "Of course I'll have to rid her of any sources of stress."

_'She means...'_ Neji's foot slid back subconsciously. "O-of course, Hokage-sama." Cold sweat beaded on his skin. Even without the Byakugan, he saw what she meant clearly.

"Is that all?"

"Yes."

Neji left quickly. In moments like this, he never knew what to do. Was it called overprotectiveness? Was it called love? The bond between a sensei and student...can be this strong?

_'Rid her of any sources of stress, huh?'_ It was clearly a warning to him. If he told Sakura about the results of the latest medical report... If he stressed her in any way, hurt her in any way, Tsunade wouldn't hesitate to eliminate him.

But most of all, that meant that she would send Sasori away, no matter how she had to do it.

**S**oftly, he reached out with a protective hand, to the broad back that never turned, no matter how much he called out to him. _"S-Sasuke!"_ And again, even though he tried to touch him, his hands only passed through without even the smallest tickle to show that he was there. "_Why?"_ He stared at his hands, but although they looked solid, they were only the solid hands of a ghost. "_Why can't I touch you, teme? Chikusho!"_

Slowly, he sank back. It seemed as if all he could do was watch him. He couldn't do anything else. Through the days of insanity that tore his skin till blood stained the walls and floors of his house red, and through the empty days of amnesia that left the house cold, even as summer bloomed around them, he couldn't find a way to run to him.

His hands still remained useless.

"_Why can't you see me? Why can't you see that I'm here?"_ He kept expecting him to hear his words, to stop and turn around, to call him dobe and urusatonkachi. But Sasuke only walked forwards. How could he speak to a person who no longer existed? How could he see someone who was no longer there?

**End Chapter 23**

---------------------------

Fire's English tidbits for those who care:

Words that have been deleted from my vocabulary due to redundancy. The next word is "of" as in "off of." I'm mentioning it because it's useless filler. The sentence is shorter, more concise, and still makes sense if the "of" is omitted. For example, "Sasuke wanted to knock the stupid grin off of Naruto's face," is the same as "Sasuke wanted to knock the stupid grin off Naruto's face." Keeping the "of" in the sentence sometimes makes the flow of the paragraph choppy, resulting in awkward sentences. If you can get rid of the "of," it would probably be better if you did.

Fire's babbling:

Fire: Can you guess who that mysterious ghost following Sasuke is?

Naruto: No.

Sasuke: (under his breath) Baka.

Fire: If you don't know how much time was skipped, it was a month.

Sasuke: Obviously.

Fire: --;; It's July now, the first week of July.

Sasuke: You wrote that in the story as well. Stop repeating yourself!

Fire: But the time of the year is important to the story! That's why I had to skip a month!

Tobi: What's going happen to me?

Hidan: What happened to us?

Kakuzu: Collecting our bounty?

Tobi: What?

Hidan: I see Tobi. (walks toward Tobi)

Tobi: (runs away)

Fire: Um...please tell me if the story lags again. I might edit the earlier chapters later on to increase the pace of the storyline.

Kisame: Maybe?

Fire: If I find the time. I work and go to school too.

Kisame: ...

Sasuke: So? I do all the work!

Fire: Okay, review! I know that the story is getting really long. There are only about five or six chapters left though. Just so you know.

Sasuke: We originally wanted only twenty-five chapters, but Fire forgot about two months of timeline. --;; How do you forget May and June?

Fire: XP I'm an idiot.

Sasuke: Anyway, that's why the timeline's so weird.

Fire: I thought we would have thirty chapters if we didn't have the time-warp, but that was way too long. That's why the time-warp is there.

Naruto: Do I come back now?

Fire: (ignoring Naruto) Anyway, send me a review and tell me what you liked, what you hated, whether you want to see more Naruto or just to let Sasuke suffer—

Sasuke: I'm DEFINITELY bringing Naruto back!

Fire: And I know one of you don't want Sasori to be sent away.

Sasori: I don't want to leave either.

Sakura: That's because—

Sasori: I have to turn Sakura into a puppet first!

Sakura: Baka! (punches Sasori and sends him flying out the window)

Fire: Anyway, the rest of you don't care what happens to Sasori, then, right?

Kisame: And Akatsuki...

Fire: A problem that will never go away.

Hidan: (angry) We're not problems!

Fire: (shrugs indifferently) You're always angry, Hidan.

Sasuke: What Fire's _trying_ to say is that you should review so we know what you're thinking. Be brutally honest.

Fire: Yes. It'll give me some drive to reply to you.

Tobi: (holds up the growing Bag of Reviews) So you're going to—

Fire: --;; Maybe later. (runs away)

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	25. Twenty four: Useless Hands of a Phantom

Fire: The end is coming! The end is coming!

Sasuke: What are you talking about?

Fire: Don't you feel that the story is getting more tense?

Sasori: What's going to happen to me?

Tobi: I'm going to kill you. (smiles happily)

Sasori: That's never going to happen.

Fire: Anyway, the storyline has officially shifted from Sakura and Sasori back to Naruto and Sasuke. Yay!

Sasuke: I'm not happy about that.

Naruto: I'm back.

Fire: I've reintroduced Naruto to the storyline. Everyone, meet Naruto.

Sakura: We know who Naruto is.

Fire: ...

Kisame: You're an idiot.

Fire: Kisame! Why are you calling me an idiot? (tears up)

Kisame: We all know that you can't cry, so stop trying.

Fire: I can if I try! (tries to cry)

Tobi: Um...remember this? (holds up the Big Bag of Reviews)

Fire: Since I'm afraid that it might take too long to reply, due to the bulk of reviews in my email right now, I'm going to say a few things here. Um...first, I'm not killing Sasori.

Tsunade: That's right. I am.

Fire: --;; Ah, Sasori's not going to die, so don't worry, EasilyAmusedReader-san.

Tsunade: What do you mean, I'm talking to Orochimaru? I don't talk to Orochimaru. (laughs nervously)

Fire: ...

Tsunade: I don't.

Fire: And Teges-san, Sakura will probably end up with Sasori at this point, doesn't it? DeiSaku pairing is still standing, but Sasori will have to kill him if he insists on taking Sakura away. We'll just have to see if that comes up. Even I don't know what the characters will do next. --;;

Tobi: (points at EasilyAmusedReader's review) Fire-sama, you're not finished with this yet.

Fire: (looks at the rest of the review) --;; I'm sure that not everyone wants Sasori to die. We have a lot of people reading this that want Sasori to end up with Sakura. And if Sasori dies, I'll make sure it's good. I definitely won't let him die an ordinary death...like an execution. I don't like things like that either. This is just the logical flow of the storyline. If I try to force anything, the story becomes unnatural and the characters will become OOC. Everything will work out at the end.

Kisame: Are you finished talking now?

Fire: Um...yes?

Tobi: That means we should start the story now, right?

Sasuke: (nods) ...

Tobi: (presses the button to load chapter 24) ...

---------------------------

**Chapter 24: Useless Hands of a Phantom**

_**'L**ast night, the sky darkened and blood rained from the sky...in my dream. Last night, the fingers I used to touch your face ached to touch you again...even if it was in my dream. To cross the heavens... To cross time... Or to cross the land of the dead... Should I? If only to feel your warmth again with these bloodstained fingers, should I? Should I run from this world I'm trapped in? Can I escape when running at full speed all this time only brought me to these dreams?'_

**T**he days had suddenly grown warmer. He could leave the shouji doors that insulated his room in the winter open without freezing at night. But that was for now, for this time of the year, when summer was beginning and the thunderstorms hadn't arrived yet. Early July was a good time to feel the warmth of summer. But Sasuke couldn't enjoy it. His mind was preoccupied with Naruto's current location.

What had happened after he died?

He couldn't remember. He couldn't remember what had happened to Naruto. _'How can I forget what happened to him?'_ Sasuke held his head, his fingers digging into his skull, but he still couldn't remember. Through the days and nights that he had spared in the hopes of finding the smallest bits of information that could bring him back to Naruto, he found nothing. There was nothing. Only darkness and death.

But Sasuke knew that it couldn't last forever. All he needed to do was push himself, was to make himself remember. The memories had to be there!

_'Think! What happened to him?'_ His fingers dug into his skin until blood crawled down the sides of his face, but he didn't notice it. He was too close to be distracted by simple pain and blood. He needed to know what had happened to him! _'Where is he?!'_

Sasuke could hear his harsh breathing through the empty thoughts that surfaced in his head. The loud sound of inhaling air. The loud sound of exhaling air. The loud sound of inhaling air.

"I..." The grey slowly faded from his thoughts. _'Impossible!'_ His hands slowly fell from his head as the memories of a life he didn't want to live filled his vision. He had tried to remember for the last week, and now, he didn't want to see it anymore. He didn't want to know about something like that!

But he couldn't stop staring at his hands. Long after the visions faded, he couldn't stop staring at the hands which were capable of a technique like that. And he couldn't stop wondering whether it was true. He couldn't stop wondering if he had remembered wrong, if he had only fabricated the horrible memory to calm himself.

He had done it before, after the clan massacre. He had created so many memories, something to sheild himself, and something to hide the reality that his brother had created. It was possible that it wasn't true. It was possible that Naruto was alive somewhere, that he wasn't just a puppet, waiting to be summoned.

With shaking hands, Sasuke formed his fingers around the seals. Simple seals that Orochimaru had taught him. Ordinary seals. Nothing to fear.

Then, why were his hands shaking?

**N**aruto always thought that Sasuke was smart. He was always first in class. He had Sakura's admiration. He had _everyone's_ admiration. The teachers at the Academy often praised him. The evidence was there. But he was wrong. Sasuke wasn't smart. If he was smarter, he would have realized what had happened long before this point. No one else would be digging their fingers into their head over something like this.

_**'Maybe we should kill him.'**_

"_Who said we're going to kill him, baka kitsune!"_ Naruto sighed inwardly. Even in death, he had to deal with the Kyuubi. He was never going to get rid of this bijuu.

"_**I just did."**_

"_We're not going to kill him!"_

"**_..."_**

"_I heard that!"_ The Kyuubi wanted to bite him. Naruto wanted to bite the Kyuubi too...

...when the world faded into darkness. His whole body filled with strange aches, otherworldly numbness like frostbites on his skin. His limbs melted, wanted to pool on the ground. His head stretched, felt loose. His eyes exploded, dangled from their sockets.

_'Kuchiyose: Edo Tensei!'_

And he was there.

"Teme!" Naruto jumped out of the casket. "I'm going to kill you!" He had waited over six months to hit him!

"N-Naruto!" Sasuke shouted as the fists smashed against him. He had half expected the technique to fail. If Naruto wasn't dead, he shouldn't be able to summon him. He shouldn't be able to summon him because... _'Naruto's not dead!'_

But all signs pointed elsewhere. The small clouds of dust that flew from each punch... The pale colour of Naruto's hair and skin... The pastel clothes on the blond shinobi's body... There was no doubt that Naruto was a normal Edo Tensei summoning.

"Teme! What kind of idiot goes insane over nothing?!" Naruto shouted.

"Nothing?" Sasuke glared at Naruto. "You thought it was noth—" Sasuke couldn't find the strength to choke it out. Naruto was definitely too dense to explain something like _that_ to. All he could do was glare at him.

"Ne, Sasuke," Naruto said, not flinching for even a moment under the dark-haired boy's glare as he stared with wide-eyed innocence. "Let me hit you. Just once."

"Wha—?"

And a thick fist sent Sasuke flying through the open shouji doors into the stone wall surrounding his garden.

"K-kuso! Naruto! I didn't say you can hit me!" Sasuke shouted as he pushed himself to his shaky feet. He didn't even know why Naruto was hitting him.

"You stopped summoning me! Who told you to do something so stupid?!" Naruto shouted, ignoring everything Sasuke had said. "Baka!"

"You..." Sasuke growled angrily. He could barely remember what he did, and Naruto was already yelling at him for it. "I have my reasons." But even though he couldn't remember what Naruto was yelling at him for, he wasn't going to tell the blond shinobi.

"Stupid reasons," Naruto fumed.

And suddenly, the guilt that Sasuke had held back for the last six months flooded his chest. "Hn." The memories of before slowly surfaced in his mind. "If you keep complaining about it, I just won't summon you again when you..." He glanced quickly at the dust gathering around Naruto's feet. Already, he was disintegrating. Already, the fragile body that housed Naruto's soul was falling apart.

And he couldn't say it. He couldn't hurt Naruto with those words.

"Naruto," he said slowly as he raised a hand, his fingers gently grazing the face for which he had spent a month searching. He wanted to hug him. He wanted to grab hold of Naruto and never let go. But the memory of what had happened before when he did it... The memory of Naruto's body exploding into the wind with his touch... He could barely bring his nervous fingers to feel Naruto's face. "Doesn't it hurt?"

Naruto backed away, sending a soft gray mist into the air as Sasuke's fingers grated against his skin. "Of course not," he said bluntly. "I'm dead. You're an idiot if you think it hurts."

"Hn." Sasuke glared coldly at Naruto, but he didn't say anything. Again. Naruto had called him an idiot again. He hadn't returned for even ten minutes and he was already insulting him.

"You were just lazy, weren't you, Sasuke?" Naruto didn't notice the glare. "You didn't want to summon me! Sakura-chan would have—"

"I'm not Sakura!" He had almost forgotten this part about Naruto, the part of him that still loved Sakura. He was even more unsure now whether Naruto really liked him or not. "Kuso! Naruto, I don't have pink hair! I'm not a girl! And I'm not in love with that damned Suna-nin!"

It was the first time—or at least, the only time Naruto remembered—Sasuke losing his composure.

"Suna-nin?" Naruto didn't know anything about people from Suna...other than Gaara and his siblings. "Sakura-chan's in love with Gaara?" He was floating around Sasuke all this time, but he so preoccupied with why he wasn't being summoned that he didn't see anyone beyond the dark-haired shinobi. He didn't understand anything Sasuke was saying.

"Who said anything about Gaara?"

Naruto's stomach rumbled.

"Ramen!" Naruto grabbed Sasuke's arm. "Tell me later. I want to know all about Sakura-chan's long distance relationship with Gaara. But first, you..." The blond shinobi grinned maliciously. "You're going to buy me breakfast!"

And he pulled a groaning Sasuke away. He knew that Naruto would find some way to punish him, even if he didn't know that he was doing it.

**D**eidara had given up. It was a fact that he was willing to accept. He couldn't find the jinchuuriki without any clues, and there were definitely no clues to help him. Tobi was probably dead. Zetsu had no new information. And Sakura wasn't going to help him. He had nothing.

So he was sulking at the tea shop. If he drank enough tea, he might calm himself enough to think of a rational plan, something to help him survive failing, something that would keep him from getting killed by everyone when he returned empty-handedly to Akatsuki.

The leader didn't like failure.

_'What can I do, yeah? If I can't find him, I can't find him!'_ But it wasn't a good enough excuse. Hidan would definitely say that he didn't try hard enough.

He had better luck trying to find and kill Tobi.

"Sasuke, you _have_ to pay for the ramen. _I_ can't do it. I have no money!"

Deidara's ears immediately caught the familiar voice. He knew _that_ voice. _'The jinchuuriki!'_ He searched through the crowds. The jinchuuriki was nearby. This was the clue he needed!

And he saw him, the blond boy he had seen months ago when Sasori was still his partner. Standing outside Ichiraku Ramen was the Kyuubi jinchuuriki!

He had found him.

And the dark-haired shinobi with him... Uchiha Sasuke! Uchiha Sasuke was the one hiding him!

**K**akuzu surprised himself. For the first time, _he_ was the one who wanted a break. Hidan wanted to keep going. Usually, it was the other way around. Usually, Kakuzu wanted to capture the bounty, and Hidan complained about how annoying it was. "Hidan, it's getting dark. We won't be able to see the damned trail."

"We don't need to see. I'll find him," Hidan said as he trampled determinedly through thick undergrowth.

"..." Kakuzu wanted to rip Hidan's face off. It was too dark to see! "You know how that bastard thinks. We should return to Konohagakure."

"These footprints lead back to the village." Hidan continued forwards.

"..." Kakuzu continued after his partner. He wasn't listening. He was trying stop Hidan, trying to rest for at least a short while, but... "If you know where we're heading, it won't matter _when_ we get there." He wanted to tear Hidan's legs off.

"We'll lose him if he goes into the village." And Hidan knew that Tobi was going to the village...because that was where _he_ was.

_Tobi was particularly upbeat that day. That was why Hidan had to ruin it. He hated enthsiastic people, and most of all, he hated the only current member of their organization who had joined without fighting and defeating a previous member. He despised Tobi. _

_That was why as soon as he heard the words from Zetsu, the evil smile on his face couldn't stop the words from escaping. "Since Sasori's not dead, the membership of the man holding his ring isn't valid anymore, is it?" Hidan grinned at Tobi, although no one could see the smile through their shadowy figures. _

"_This isn't about the validity of Tobi's membership," Zetsu said slowly. He had helped Tobi join their organization, so he would obviously defend him. "What's important is that Sasori is still alive."_

"_We should kill him," Tobi said determinedly._

"_YOU should kill him," Hidan said. "YOU'RE the one trying to take his place."_

"_I agree," Kakuzu said predictably. Even though he stood neutral on this subject—considering how he only cared when there was a bounty to collect—he understood the rules of the organization. "If Tobi wants to join, he should kill Sasori."_

"_Yes," the leader agreed. "Until you bring Sasori's corpse back as proof of your membership, we will have to revoke your position in our organization."_

"_..." Tobi looked desperately around him, at Zetsu and at Deidara, but no one was helping. _

"_Be glad we won't kill you, yeah," Deidara said passively. He had always hated Tobi, so it wasn't a surprise that he didn't help. "All other ex-members die."_

_And Tobi had no choice but to accept his demotion._

Yes. Hidan understood Tobi's thought patterns. Even though the order to kill him had spread to every branch of their organization, he wouldn't give up. Even if he couldn't join Akatsuki, he would still try to kill Sasori. That was why he was heading toward Konoha. Because Konoha was where Sasori was.

"We could have just waited by the gates. He was already heading there," Kakuzu complained. The sun had set a while ago, and twilight was already fading into darkness. "Let's stop for today."

"We're almost there."

"I said stop, chikusho!" Kakuzu's arms flew from his body, grabbed Hidan's legs and sent his partner falling to the ground. Within the moment, his arms flew back with the S-ranked criminal's dismembered legs in its grasp.

"Fine," Hidan conceded. He couldn't walk without legs. "I'll just crawl—"

Kakuzu sliced Hidan's arms off.

"Give me back my damned limbs, Kakuzu!" Hidan shouted. "Do you know how much this _hurts_?!"

"We're taking a break." Kakuzu set his partner's arms and legs by his side as he sat down. "We can continue in the morning."

"Fine! Just reattach my limbs!" If Kakuzu didn't reattach his limbs soon, he would lose his arms and legs. He wasn't in ritual mode. He wasn't invulnerable.

He would just have to wait until morning to kill Tobi.

**F**or a week, Tsunade had dwelled on the same problem. She had a volitile man in her village, but she couldn't just kill him. He wasn't considered an S-ranked criminal anymore, not after he came under Sakura's control. Since then, Suna no Sato had taken him out of the bingo book. So, she couldn't just kill him. He was an ordinary man, and ordinary men couldn't be executed in public.

So since she couldn't return him to Suna, the only option was to execute him in private.

"Hokage-sama?"

Tsunade looked up at the purple-haired woman standing by the door. For times like these, she had no other choice but to use the ANBU. "I have a mission for you. Come in and close the door." The ANBU were created for difficult missions like these.

**T**he village hadn't changed much in the last six months he was gone. As Naruto looked around with a full stomach, everything still seemed the same. He had thought that everyone would leave him behind, move on without him, but they had all waited. They waited long enough for him to catch up to them. Everyone was still the same...except for Sakura.

He had asked Sasuke about her relationship with Gaara while they were at Ichiraku Ramen, but he didn't remember anything that Sasuke had said. He was focussing on the delicious ramen that he hadn't tasted for half a year. _'I should have listened.'_ Sasuke had repeated himself so many times that he grew frustrated and left.

But Naruto didn't care. Now, he didn't have a dead weight following him around.

_'And I can look for Sakura-chan!'_ And probably get the story from her.

"Konnichiwa! Irrashai— Naruto?" Ino shouted in surprise as the blond shinobi walked into Yamanaka Hana. She had thought he was dead. Dead people didn't just walk around.

"Ano-sa, Ino," Naruto said as he walked up to the counter. He was aware of the fine dust flying from his skin, but as long as nothing broke off huge chunks of his body, he should be able to sustain his form for a while longer. "I'm looking for Sakura-chan." He went to her house, to the training grounds, to the Hokage tower, to the hospital...everywhere she could be, but he still couldn't find her. "Do you know where she is?"

Ino looked nervously at Naruto. "N-Naruto?" She couldn't resist asking. "Why are you here? I thought you were dead." She hadn't seen him since he died a year ago.

"I _am_ dead," Naruto said bluntly. "Sasuke summoned me back."

"S-sugoi! I knew Sasuke-kun was amazing!" Ino lost her thoughts immediately. "He even brought back the dead!"

"Ino, where's Sakura-chan?"

"Sakura? Why do you want to see Sakura when you have a beautiful girl in front of you?" Ino said jokingly.

"Tell me where Sakura-chan is." He didn't have much time left and he wanted to see her.

"She's probably at the Hokage tower," Ino said, ignoring the rude comments. _'Since I'm a nice person, I won't yell at him for it.'_ Even though she wanted to yell at him, she couldn't yell at a dead man. She didn't want Naruto to haunt her.

"I went there. She's not there."

Ino blinked at Naruto. "Did you search everywhere?"

Naruto shook his head. He only searched near the Hokage office, where Tsunade's study and private libraries were. That was where Sakura was when she was training in the Hokage tower. "Why would I search everywhere for her?" There was no reason for Sakura to be anywhere else in the Hokage tower.

"She's probably in the holding area, at the top of the Hokage tower," Ino said with a shrug. "Sasori's being held there, so she's probably looking for him."

"Who's Sasori?"

Ino stared at Naruto. She still doubted a little that this was truly Naruto, but that last line destroyed all doubt. Only Naruto would be stupid enough to say something like that. "You fought him before, and you forgot?"

"I've fought a lot of people."

Ino sighed. She didn't want to explain it to Naruto. If she tried to say anything, there would only be questions she couldn't answer...or she could answer them, but Naruto just wouldn't understand. He was too dense, and she didn't have enough patience to explain everything slowly. "Just go to the Hokage tower. She's definitely there."

"And if she's not?"

Ino glared at Naruto. "Go away!" She knew where the conversation was heading. He was trying to make her buy him ramen! "If you don't believe me, search the entire village until there's only the Hokage tower left!" And she pushed Naruto out of the shop. "If you're not going to buy anything, don't come back!" She slammed the door closed.

"I didn't say I wasn't going to buy anything." Naruto scratched his head at the confusing sentence, but Ino was right. Even though he didn't say that he wasn't going to buy anything, he had no intention of buying flowers today.

He only wanted to find Sakura-chan.

**End Chapter 24**

---------------------------

Fire's English tidbits for those who care:

The word this week is personal. If you want to use it, you probably don't need to. It's an omnibus word. For example, "I personally think that the soup for Rock Lee's ramen is too spicy." Thoughts can _only_ be personal. They can't be anything other than personal, right? So, you can omit personal from that sentence. --;; I hope this made sense. I can explain further about the exceptions and where you would use this word, but...that would make this tidbit too long. So, if you're curious and want an explanation, tell me and I'll explain it in a PM.

Fire's babbling:

Naruto: I'm not _that_ stupid!

Fire: --;;

Sasori: You said all the characters, but I'm not in it, and neither is Sakura.

Sasuke: And what happened to Kakashi?

Fire: That's for next week.

Sakura: What's Tsunade-sensei doing?

Fire: --;; Stop asking me all these questions!

Sasuke: There are too many unaswered questions to finish the story now!

Fire: I'll answer them! Just stop yelling at me! (hugs Kisame for comfort)

Kisame: You're a leech.

Tobi: Hidan threw me out of the organization on purpose?

Hidan: I see Tobi now! (runs after Tobi)

Tobi: (runs away) ...

Kakuzu: (walks after Hidan and Tobi) He never gives up.

Kisame: Now's the time to review, mina. If you want to help me get Fire off, send in a review! Fire has to let go to read it.

Sasuke: How many chapters do you think there are left?

Fire: Feedback is always welcome. I'll try to reply as soon as I can, but I currently have over a hundred emails to get to. It might take a while.

Sakura: --;; It's true. I've seen it.

Fire: But I want to know who should kill Tobi. I'm still trying to decide if Deidara, Sasori, Sasuke, Hidan...

Kisame: I want to do it.

Fire: You're dead.

Deidara: You're not going to kill _me_ are you?

Fire: ...

Deidara: Say something!

Fire: (runs, pulling Kisame away) Ja!

Deidara: Answer me, yeah! (runs after Fire)

---------------------------


	26. Twenty five: Breaking the Light

Fire: Hm...

Sasuke: Why did you give me a knife?

Fire: I want to check the tension.

Sakura: That's a figure of speech! You don't actually try to cut tension with a knife!

Naruto: I thought we did.

Fire: I did too.

Sakura: (points at the butter in front of Fire) That's butter!

Fire: Really? But it says tension. (points to the word tension written on the butter)

Sakura: (frustrated) That's it! Tobi, where are the reviews! (grabs a review from Tobi and shoves it at Fire) Focus on these!

Fire: Ahem. Um... (looks at the reviews) Ah, Aurora-san, I don't think I can torture Sasuke any more than I already have.

Sasuke: I'm not torturing myself any further!

Naruto: Maybe a little?

Sasuke: (sighs) Okay, maybe a little.

Fire: Sasuke has no backbone.

Sasuke: (glares at Fire as he replies to the review) I _tried_ explaining to Naruto that it wasn't Gaara in the last chapter, but he's still oblivious.

Naruto: Sakura and Gaara's in love?

Sasuke: I said Suna-nin, not Gaara!

Deidara: Of course I'll kill the blond brat, yeah. Who do you think I am?

Naruto: He's going to kill me? (looks at Fire with teary eyes)

Fire: Uh...no comment. And Aurora-san, don't worry about Deidara dying. If he dies, it will definitely be a good death.

Sasuke: (mumbles) That doesn't ease her worries. (turns to Aurora-san) And are you insane?! I told you I'm not going to torture myself anymore!

Fire: I might torture you for a while though.

Sasuke: ...

Deidara: But I _will_ succeed, yeah? You won't let Akatsuki kill me, yeah?

Fire: Um...on with the--

Sakura: (yelling at Teges-san) Do I _look_ like I like Sasori to you?!

Fire: (yelling nervously as Sakura's rage sends chakra burning through her body) Tobi!

Tobi: Yes! (scrambles to pull chapter 25 onto the screen)

---------------------------

**Chapter 25: Breaking the Light**

_**'T**his tragedy began when I realized who we were. This distance between us was too great. Fate pulling us apart was too strong. While I tried constantly to build a world where we could live together, your eyes fixed on another. Your heart had flown away. Emotionless, our cold world crumbled. What can I do when the sun refuses to protect it? What can I do when the god of our fledgling world ignores it? How can these small human hands create a world where you will never leave me?'_

**H**e had searched all over Hokage tower for her. Naruto had forgotten where Ino said Sakura was. If it wasn't something related to ramen, Akatsuki, an interesting mission, Sasuke, or something along that line of thought, he usually forgot it, which was strange, because he usually remembered everything about Sakura. The pink-haired girl was definitely on the list of things he never forgot. But today, he just didn't seem to remember properly. _'My brain's probably disintegrating first this time,'_ he thought gloomily to himself. Even though he couldn't believe it, it was probably what was happening.

"Ah, Sakura-chan!" Naruto caught his teammate's unmistakeable presence as he walked by an empty room near the top of Hokage tower. "What are you..." And his eyes drew instantly to her round form. "Did you..." The blond shinobi said slowly as he stared. "...get fatter?" He hadn't seen her for six months, but she must have eaten everything in sight to become like _that_!

"Na...ru...to..." Sakura growled as she turned with burning rage toward her teammate. She hadn't seen him for a long time, and she had missed him, and she was happy to see him, but... "I'm not fat!" She punched him as hard as she could, sending him flying through a wall.

"But Sakura-chan," Naruto said as he pulled himself from the rubble. "You—" The blond stopped as an evil glare shot from Sakura into his body, constricting his chest until he couldn't breathe. "–look great! I've never seen you look better." He decided not to tell the truth. "How's Gaara?"

The pink-haired girl stared at Naruto, the glare gone, replaced by surprise. _'Gaara? Why is he asking about the Kazekage? How would I know how the Kazekage is?'_

"Sasuke said you're in a long distance relationship with Gaara." Naruto grinned. The heavy danger filling the air a moment ago was gone. "How did it happen?"

"Baka! I'm not in a relationship with Gaara!" She raised a hand to smack Naruto again, but as her eyes caught the thin streams of dust falling from Naruto's disintegrating face, her fist couldn't move. She couldn't hit him. The days when she could freely scold Naruto were gone. "Sasuke-kun knows I'm not in a relationship with Gaara. Don't lie, Naruto." She settled for firmly patting the blond chuunin on the head and stern words, but even the slight movement of her fingers on Naruto's hair brought the entire right side of his face crumbling to the ground. She stopped herself before she could damage him any further.

"I'm not lying! Sasuke said you were in love with a Suna-nin!"

"I'm not in love with a Suna-nin!" Sakura couldn't believe Sasuke would say that to Naruto. _'Waah! Sasuke-kun, who told you these lies?!'_ It was probaly Ino.

Or Sasori.

"But why would Sasuke lie to me?" Naruto stared innocently at Sakura, as if she had a logical reason to lie.

"I don't know why, but I'm _not_ in love with a Suna-nin, shannaro!"

"Then maybe you can tell me why you gained so much weight, Sakura-chan." Naruto gazed disappointedly at the round bulk around Sakura's waist. He had expected to see a familiar kunoichi, not... "How much did you eat?"

Sakura looked completely different.

"I'm not fat, baka! I'm pregnant!" Her fist flew forwards before she could stop it. But she managed to move it aside in time. It smashed the wall by Naruto's head. Jagged wounds cracked upwards to the ceiling before crumbling to the ground as she pulled her hand out. The empty room beyond the wall glared back at them, as if to accuse them of crimes it knew they committed. "I..." Sakura tried to think of a way to withdraw what she had said. Naruto's shocked expression revealed that he had heard everything. Clearly. "I meant..." She couldn't think of a way out of it.

"You and Gaara are having a baby?"

"It's not Gaara's, shannaro!" She had just repeated the same words to Naruto. Sometimes, he was just too dense. If he didn't listen to her soon, she was going to crush his head!

"Hm..." Naruto thought for a moment before turning toward the exit. Even though half his face was gone, and the rest of his body was quickly vanishing, he could still stand on his feet and walk. "Then who's the Suna-nin? Maybe I should ask Sasuke abou—"

"No!" Sakura grabbed onto Naruto's arm before he could walk away. But she had grabbed onto him a little too quickly and with too much strength. It exploded, scattering remnants of the blond shinobi's right arm into the air. "You can't tell Sasuke-kun!" Her eyes throbbed with crazed determination as they stared into Naruto's blank expression. She couldn't let Sasuke know. She wasn't ready to let him know yet!

"It's a secret?"

"Y-yes!" Sakura smiled nervously. If those words were all she needed to say to keep Sasuke from finding out, she would say it. She would admit that he didn't know. "It's a secret, Naruto, so don't tell Sasuke-kun."

"Yosh! A secret that only Sakura-chan and I share!" Naruto shouted enthusiastically. "Of course, I won't tell Sasuke!" He grinned at the opportunity to get closer to his pink-haired teammate.

"Don't shout it so loud, baka!" She had said it was a secret, and he was already shouting it all over Hokage tower.

She was having serious regrets about telling Naruto about her current state.

**H**is shift had begun a short while ago, not that it mattered. Yesterday was his last day watching Sasori. So he didn't have to go back to the Hokage tower, at least not until his new orders arrived The decision to end his mission came directly from the Hokage's office. He didn't know what was going to happen to the Suna-nin, and he probably wouldn't find out. But he didn't have time to think about it. The words bouncing through Sasuke's head was more than adequately blocking out any new topics. _'I'm dead. You're an idiot if you think it hurts.'_ Naruto's words repeated continuously.

He was too selfish.

Sasuke realized it as the words repeated themselves again. He never thought about Naruto. He understood if Naruto wanted to run to Sakura. He understood if Naruto wanted to leave him. The entire time they were at Ichiraku Ramen, Naruto only wondered where Sakura was. There were no words asking about him.

Because he was too selfish.

Sasuke couldn't help it. How could he think about others when he had only thought about himself for so long? It was always about him. _His_ goals. _His_ past. _His_ vengeance. _His _emotions. There was never time to think about anyone else. There was never time for Naruto.

How was he supposed to know that Naruto wanted to stay with him? Even if he died again and again. Day after day. Relentlessly. Forever.

That kind of devotion...

_'Only an idiot like you is capable of it.'_

So they were both idiots.

"Sasuke, where are you? Kuso! Why is this house so damn huge?" Naruto wandered through the door into the room where Sasuke sat. "You need a smaller house, Sasuke." The blond jinchuuriki seemed completely oblivious to the fact that his entire right side had disintegrated. Sasuke couldn't even see how he was still standing up.

"Talk to the Hokage. She packed up my things and the landlord rented my old apartment to someone else while I was dead." He almost smiled at the words. While he was dead... The same thing had happened to Naruto. What were they supposed to do with a dead man's things? The landlord wasn't going to wait for them to come back to life! "Be thankful we have somewhere to live." But the scent of blood was still so strong. The red scent seeped from the walls. He thought his parents' blood would have faded after so many years.

Such a strong smell was overpowering his thoughts, sending the next words spoken by Naruto out of his head before his ears could truly hear them. Sasuke only realized that he hadn't heard anything that the summoning had said when he saw Naruto shouting at him.

"Usotsuki!"

Sasuke blinked. "I never lied to you," he said with extreme bitterness. It was true. He hadn't lied to Naruto, so why was Naruto calling him a liar?

"You said Sakura-chan was in love with Gaara!"

"I never said that!" Sasuke had explained it to him almost twenty times while they were in Ichiraku Ramen. He had thought that the blond shinobi would have heard him at least once! "I said she was in love with a Suna-nin!"

"If it's not Gaara..." Naruto could only think of one other Suna-nin who was even remotely worthy of Sakura. "Then it's Temari!"

"K-k—" Sasuke couldn't believe what an idiot Naruto was. "Kono urusatonkachi!" He wanted to hit him until he listened, but with the current state of Naruto's body, he didn't want to kill him. "It's Sasori, baka!"

Naruto laughed. "Sasori? He's dead! Stop lying to me and tell me who it is, Sasuke!" He wanted to know who had stolen Sakura away from him.

And maybe kill him.

And take his place.

Even if he had Sasuke, he couldn't stop himself from wanting to be with Sakura. "I want to kill the man who had done _that_ to Sakura-chan!"

"That?" Sasuke wasn't really listening to Naruto, not when he was talking about Sakura—and he could talk about her for endless hours—but his ears caught the words immediately. "What happened to her?" He hadn't seen her for a long time, and they were no longer teammates, but if anyone had hurt one of his _former_ teammates, he would never forgive them.

"Ah, nothing," Naruto said nervously. _'I promised Sakura-chan not to tell anyone! Waah! Stop glaring at me, Sasuke!'_ He couldn't think of anything to say. "She just gained some weight. That's all."

"Others don't cause weight gain," Sasuke said as he leaned back. Nothing had happened to Sakura. "You'll never find a culprit."

"I _know_ someone did it!" Naruto's voice was filled with determination. "I know!"

"Hn." Sasuke turned away from Naruto. _'He's still an idiot. Nothing has changed at all.'_

"You don't believe me! I know someone did it to her! You should see how _big_ she has become!"

_'Big?'_ Sasuke turned slightly toward Naruto. "What do you mean, big?"

"Sakura-chan said that she's—" Naruto covered his mouth quickly, before he could say anything more. "I meant..." He tried to think of a way to explain it, but he couldn't think of anything to say. "Sakura-chan said..." He couldn't think of anything at all!

_'Sakura-chan, gomen nasai!'_ He couldn't get around it. He _had_ to tell Sasuke the truth!

**S**akura sneezed, sending ripples through her entire body. Someone was talking about her, and it was very unsettling. Whatever they were saying definitely wasn't good. At least, not for her. This cold feeling within her...she knew that it couldn't be good. She felt all her secrets leaving her body, flying through the air for everyone to hear and know. _'Naruto!'_ She knew that he was saying something. The only one who knew enough to hurt her was Naruto.

"Sakura?"

The pink-haired girl turned at the voice, her hair flying in front of her eyes for a moment, blocking her view before she pulled them out of her vision. Standing in the hall, as if nothing was wrong, as if nothing had happened, was Sasori. He stood, waiting for a response, for a greeting. For _something_ from her.

"What are you doing here?"

Even his voice was calm.

"Sasori..." The name escaped softly from her throat, and blocked everything from coming out. Was he free? Did they release him? The reason for her coming to the Hokage tower—to kill him for destroying the village—evaporated as soon as she saw him, as soon as she saw the seals stuck to his body.

As soon as she saw the ANBU-nin behind him.

"What..." It took a moment longer before she figured it out. They were taking him somewhere. "Where are you taking him, ANBU-san?" She asked quickly, before the woman with the dog mask could continue pass her, before she could leave and take Sasori away.

"To Sunagakure. He's being sent back." Yuugao's voice came unwaveringly from behind her mask.

"Sunagakure?" Sakura's thoughts almost stopped at the words. _'That means...'_ She looked longingly at Sasori. That meant he was going to be executed. _'But...'_

It wasn't until then that she realized she didn't want him to die. She was angry. That was true. She had wanted to hurt him. That was also true. And she had said that she was going to kill him. Which was true too. But it was all out of anger!

She didn't mean any of it!

"Y-you can't take him back to Sunagakure!" She shouted as she turned to the purple-haired ANBU. "I-I'll talk to Tsunade-shishou!" She couldn't let Sasori die! "Just wait a little while—"

"These are the Hokage's orders. She wants him to leave as soon as possible."

"Don't tell me you've fallen in love with me, Sakura," Sasori said with a smile as he watched his former master. "Reluctant to let me go?"

"N—" Sakura's face brightened, half with anger, and half with an emotion she was too reluctant to examine to name. "No. Who would love a despicable man like you!" She glared at him. "I just want to kill you myself!" She turned to the ANBU woman again. "So just wait a moment. Please."

"Gomen, Sakura," Yuugao said reluctantly. The Hokage had entrusted this important mission to her. She couldn't delay it...even for a short while, even to make sure that this was what the Hokage really wanted. There would be time for regrets later, but with the determined words spoken by the Hokage when she appointed her this mission, Yuugao doubted it.

_The Hokage's office seemed emptier than usual. It could be because the large piles usually cluttering the room were slowly growing shorter, or it could be because someone was organizing them better, so that the place wasn't so crowded. But whatever it was, Yuugao didn't have time to contemplate it. She was summoned for a mission, and anything that the Hokage wanted the ANBU to do was important. The ANBU were created to protect the village, and the Hokage. That meant she had no time to be distracted by such mundane things. Focus on the mission. That was her job as a member of the ANBU._

"_Hokage-sama, you summoned me?" Yuugao rose from the ground where she had knelt a moment ago. _

"_Yes. You know where Akasuna no Sasori is, right?" _

"_Yes."_

"_What I'm about to tell you is of utmost secrecy, understood?"_

_Yuugao nodded. There wasn't anything that the ANBU did which wasn't classified. It went without say that she wouldn't repeat anything said in that room to anyone, even if tortured and faced with death._

"_Suna has declined my request." Tsunade glanced in the direction of the Orochimaru shaped object beneath a large, conspicuous blanket. "But he's still a threat to Konoha." The blond kunoichi's words came slowly, as if she wasn't sure whom she was referring to: Sasori or Orochimaru. Or the dark-haired Orochimaru-like shinobi that still existed within her village. "I need him eliminated."_

The Hokage had spoken without hesitation. Eliminated. The word came as easily as any other, and Yuugao had to act with equal unwavering determination. She couldn't let anyone distract her. The Hokage's will was her own.

"We need to go now. Gomen." Yuugao pushed Sasori forwards. "If you make it in time, we—" She didn't know what to say. They would be on their way to Suna? But her orders were to kill him as soon as they were deep in the forest around Konoha. She couldn't lie to Sakura. "It's dangerous for you to follow in your condition."

"Hey! Stop pushing! I'm trying to say goodbye!" Sasori complained.

"Then just say it and stop stalling!" Yuugao understood how they must feel. She would have loved to say goodbye to Hayate. For this simple reason, she was sure that Tsunade wouldn't complain about this short delay. "Hokage-sama will yell if she finds out about it."

"She's always yelling," Sasori said as he turned back to where Sakura was still standing. She hadn't moved since Yuugao told her that she wouldn't have time to convince Tsunade to stop. "Sakura, I'm definitely going to be executed." He wasn't going to lie to her. She was smart enough to know the truth, even if he hid it from her. "So..." He hugged her tightly so she couldn't possibly miss a word. "Kill Kakashi for me," he said with normal tones, not even trying to hide it with a whisper, "when you get the chan—!"

"Baka!" Sakura punched him in the face, sending him spiraling away. _'Doesn't he realize that he's going to die?!'_ She thought he had serious words to say to her. "Baka!" As Sasori fell to the ground, Sakura's distressed gaze covered him. Then, she was gone. The remnants of her shunshin left only icy echoes of her last words to him.

"You should have been more serious," Yuugao said as Sasori turned to her again.

"But this is less painful." Sasori walked forwards. He wouldn't try to escape yet. In his current state, if he tried to run away while he was still in the Hokage tower, he would definitely die. There were more than enough shinobi to take him down effortlessly. If he was going to try to escape, he should do it outside Konoha, where the number of shinobi was considerably less.

And Yuugao could only stare after Sasori as he walked on without her. _'He's...protecting her?'_ But her mind refused to accept it. Sasori, a heartless S-ranked criminal, a man as heartless as the ones who had ordered Hayate's death, couldn't have been _protecting_ Sakura. He couldn't have done it on purpose. He couldn't have said those words on purpose...so that Sakura would hate him, so that she wouldn't cry over his death. _'Yarou!'_ He wouldn't do it!

Even as she ran after him, she still refused to believe he would do something like that...for Sakura.

**H** e was watching the entire time. Since he saw him at Ichiraku Ramen, he hadn't moved far from Naruto. And he saw it as soon as the jinchuuriki walked out of the Hokage tower. He had thought it was an illusion, or that Naruto was trying to prank someone, but the signs were too obvious. Half his face was missing.

The jinchuuriki was still dead!

_'How?'_ Deidara didn't know much about tensei techniques. He wasn't interested in bringing the dead to life. He was more interested in blowing people to pieces. _'Does that mean the bijuu is gone?'_

But he refused to believe it. If the bijuu was gone, what was his mission for? Did that mean he still failed, even if he captured the jinchuuriki?

_'No! I can't think about that!'_ First, he needed to capture the jinchuuriki. Then, he would worry about the bijuu. Whether the blond shinobi still carried the Kyuubi within him or not, he would find out later, as soon as he had him in his hands.

Meanwhile, the jinchuuriki looked as if he could disintegrate at any moment. He had to wait until he looked more stable. Deidara didn't know how that would come about, but even if he captured him now, the blond shinobi would only crumble to pieces before he could bring him back to Akatsuki. That plan was useless.

His only option was to wai—

"Deidara, what are you doing here?"

The blond nukenin turned, his mind thrown in complete chaos at the startling voice. "Nothing!" The words came automatically. As a nukenin, he had been accused of something at one time or other. Even if he _was_ doing something, it was habit to deny it first, and unravel his lies later. "What are _you_ doing here, yeah?" He glared at Yamato.

"It looks like he's stalking Sasuke," Sai said bluntly. They were standing outside the Uchiha estate. It was the logical conclusion.

"I'm not stalking anyone, yeah." Deidara wanted to strangle the boy.

"It still looks like you're stalking Sasuke."

"What do _you_ know? You're just a kid, yeah!" Deidara wanted to strangle the boy even more now, and while he was unconscious, he'd blow off a few limbs.

But hurting Sai would only prove that he was stalking Sasuke.

Which he wasn't! He was stalking the jinchuuriki!

"I'm not _stalking_ Sasuke, yeah." Quickly, Deidara thought of what to say, thought of what would placate them. "I'm worried. As a citizen of this village, why wouldn't I be worried, yeah." He had every reason to be concerned, even if he didn't really care. He knew about the problems between Sasuke and Sasori, even if Sasuke wasn't aware of it. And he knew about the younger Uchiha's mentality. He was almost as insane as his elder brother.

Almost.

"You're worried about Sasuke?" The lie wasn't that convincing, but Sai still believed him. "That's very kind, Deidara-san."

_'He's lying.'_ Yamato didn't believe a word, a letter of Deidara's excuse. "We can handle it from here." It was best to get rid of him as soon as possible. "We don't need help."

"With such capable bodyguards, what can _I_ do, yeah?" Deidara backed away. He was thinking of leaving anyway. Staying any longer would only lead to more lies, and he didn't want to keep track of what he had said today. "I'll see how Sasori's doing."

"Then you'd better hurry," Yamato mumbled as he turned from the blond nukenin.

"Hm?" Deidara barely caught it.

"You didn't know, Deidara-san? He's being sent back to Suna."

**I** t was a lie. Sasori knew that it was a lie as soon as they came to the gates of Konoha. Kakashi was waiting there. For a simple mission handled by a team of ANBU, just to escort Sasori—whose abilities were restrained—there was no need for extra shinobi. And there was no reason for Kakashi to see him off. The grey-haired jounin didn't like him enough to bid him goodbye.

"Remember to dress warmly. The clouds are gathering," Kakashi said with a cheerful smile as he looked at Yuugao. He was ignoring Sasori completely.

"I'm fine, Kakashi-senpai." She glanced at the darkening sky. "It won't rain today."

"Three days to Suna and three days back," the grey-haired jounin pointed out.

_'He knows.'_ Yuugao saw it in Kakashi's persistence. She knew enough about the former ANBU-taichou to see his desires when it was this obvious. The words were written on his smiling face.

_'I want to kill him.'_

"You want to come with us, Kakashi-senpai?" If she didn't ask, he probably wouldn't let them leave. Even the three other members of her team knew it. That was why they didn't protest when she mentioned it. They had all been a part of Kakashi's team at one point or other. They knew that if he didn't want them to leave Konoha, they wouldn't be able to get past these gates.

A person only dies once. Kakashi obviously didn't want to miss the opportunity to kill Sasori.

"Go with you? I can't possibly..." Kakashi looked at Sasori for a moment, and changed his mind without any persuasion. "But he's dangerous," he said seriously before smiling at Yuugao. "I'll accept your invitation." And he shoved Sasori out the gates.

**End Chapter 25**

---------------------------

Fire's English tidbits for those who care:

I got bored of listing words I've deleted from my vocabulary, so here's an interesting tidbit instead. --;; Which is what I _should_ be writing anyway, right? Anyway, I'm going to talk about splitting infinitives. If you don't know what an infinitive is, I'm going to give you an explanation. If you already know, skip the explanation. An infinitive is the bare form of a verb, often preceded by "to." At least, that's what it is in English. If you're talking about other languages, the infinitive is usually the form of the verb that's listed in the dictionary. Splitting an infinitive is when you place a modifier between the verb and "to," consequently splitting the infinitive. For example, "to carefully walk down the tree," carries a split infinitive. Carefully, the modifier, was placed between to and walk. Usually―especially in formal writing―splitting an infinitive should be avoided since it leads to awkward sentences, but if the sentence makes less sense with the modifier after the infinitive, it's absolutely okay to place it between to and the verb. The only exception―the only modifier that always splits the infinitive―is really understand. Really modifies the verb, understand, and not the noun after it. Placing it outside the infinitive leads to a lack of clarity. For example, "Naruto didn't really understand what Kakashi said," makes more sense than "Naruto didn't understand really what Kakashi said."

Fire's babbling:

Tsunade: So am I insane?

Fire: No. You're...um... I'll have to explain that in the next chapter. --;;

Sasori: Kakashi better not kill me!

Fire: O.O;;; (runs behind Kisame)

Naruto: So how did Temari and Sakura―

Temari: I'm not having a baby with Sakura!

Kankurou: You mean _I'm_ not worthy of Sakura?

Naruto: You're too creepy.

Sasuke: (zoned out) ...

Fire: Hey! You already knew what was going to happen in this story! You knew what had happened before! Sasuke! Don't zonk out now! (shakes Sasuke violently)

Sakura: Climax of the story, next chapter. Don't fall out of your seats.

Fire: I still think the tension is too soft. (pokes the butter)

Sakura: That's butter!

Fire: I'll have to increase the tension a lot more. (puts the butter in the freezer)

Naruto: That should definitely harden the tension!

Fire: That's what I thought. (smiles at Naruto)

Naruto: (grins at Fire) ...

Sasuke: Idiots.

Fire: Anyway, send me a review and tell me if you want a book after this one. I'm considering putting one up, but if not, I might just leave it at this and leave the story on my computer, for me. --;; You might want to know what happens afterwards though. I'll leave that until the end of the story. That means you have about three or four chapters after this one to decide. I don't remember exactly how many there are. I might just make an even thirty chapters for this story if the chapters get too long. I could split them... (muses to self)

Sasuke: And don't forget the feedback.

Fire: Yes. Are the characters OOC? I think they're OOC. They seem OOC to me! Waah! And I need to remember to put Tobi back into the storyline. He's definitely in the next chapter.

Tobi: Are you going to kill me now?

Fire: (ignoring Tobi) Ja!

Tobi: Are you?

---------------------------


	27. Twenty six: Unforgiveable

Fire: Hm...a difficult decision.

Sasuke: So should we upload a last book or not?

Tobi: (passing the reviews around) ...

Naruto: Only two people mentioned it. One was for a last book and the other... (looks confusedly at the review)

Fire: Um... EasilyAmusedReader-san, if I decide to write a last book, it doesn't mean I'll drop this story. --;; It means that I'll be continuing the storyline. The ending of this book will decide whether I continue or not. I have a lot of foreshadow for the next book in the climax of the story and in the falling action of the plot line. I'll have to lighten the foreshadow if I'm not going to write a last book. That's all. I didn't mean anything weird by it. --;;

Sasuke: Weird like dropping a project. We don't leave our stories unfinished.

Sakura: Second love of my life? What second love? I don't have a second love!

Sasori: As if I don't even exist...

Fire: Um...gomen nasai, Rini-san, but Sasori has already left the village. (points at the last scene of chapter 25) See?

Sasuke: Whether this nukenin lives or dies? We're not revealing that.

Fire: Yes? No?

Sasori: You can't kill me!

Fire: Maybe?

Tsunade: What did you say! (glares at Yakitori-san) Do you want me to make you into _real_ yakitori?

Fire: Ah, don't do that, Tsunade-sama! I've explained your behaviour in this chapter!

Sasuke: We haven't decided whether or not Deidara will die yet.

Fire: We don't even know if he _really_ is still with Akatsuki or not. He's hesitating a lot.

Deidara: --;; So are you going to kill me?

Fire: Maybe?

Deidara: THAT'S NOT AN ANSWER, YEAH!

Fire: (cringes) I'll have to see. If the choreography says you lose, then you lose.

Deidara: I'll win against anyone you put me up against. I'm too strong to lose to these weaklings, yeah.

Sasuke: ...

Fire: ...

Naruto: I'll beat you up!

Fire: And... (turns back to the reviews) ...Aurora-san, the Temari-being-the-father-of-Sakura's-child thing wasn't supposed to make sense. It's another one of Naruto's dense points.

Naruto: What's impossible?

Sasuke: Two girls can't have a baby.

Naruto: Really?

Sasuke: ...

Naruto: Why?

Sasuke: It just can't.

Fire: Ahem. See?

Sasori: I'm being taken back to Suna, not the woods.

Tsunade: Yeah. Sure you are.

Sasori: O.O;;;

Fire: The seals don't keep him from using chakra. They keep him from using his shoulder blades. --;; He can still use chakra, but it's useless to fight while he was still in Konoha, and he understands that. That's why Sasori hasn't tried to escape yet. They would just capture him again. I thought I made that clear. (scratches head)

Sasuke: (shrugs) Don't look at me. I'm not the writer.

Fire: As the co-writer, you should have caught that!

Sai: And he _could_ have been stalking Sasuke-kun. (slumps sadly) That wasn't intentional.

Deidara: Did you read that? I'm awesome!

Fire: Soda-san, Kakashi's not vengeful. He's just... --;; He's just being himself. I don't really understand his thoughts either. I'll explain it all next chapter when he focus on the group moving out of Konoha.

Sakura: Teges-san has an avatar of me too? (confused)

Fire: We materialize you when we need you.

Sakura: I don't want to be with Sasori! No! You can't make me!

Fire: Yes I can. --;;

Sasuke: I don't want you chasing me forever.

Naruto: Itachi's mine.

Sasuke: O.O

Naruto: ...

Itachi: ...

Sasuke: Teme! You're trying to steal Naruto away!

Fire: Ahem. Tobi, can you pull up the next chapter now?

Tobi: Yes, Fire-sama. (pulls up chapter 26)

---------------------------

**Chapter 26: Unforgiveable**

_**'A**ll I wanted was to protect you. The strength I gained, the trials I passed, the rocky paths I walked down to come to you, were meant for this one purpose. All other goals mean nothing in comparison. The blood weeping from my bandaged eyes mean nothing. Don't frown at this pain. I don't feel it. I don't need my eyes to see your face. These cracked fingers curled shakily around kunai feel no weariness. Don't frown at their haggardness. I can still continue. I don't need strong hands to push the nightmares away. These broken wings on my back are not for flying. Don't frown at the white bones jutting through reddened feathers. They still have a purpose, if only to shield the sharp glares of those who would hurt you.'_

**F**or the last hour, Tsunade had tried to focus on her work. The papers sprawled across her desk were important. She needed to finish them soon. But she couldn't pull her mind away from what was happening, not even enough to see what she had written a moment ago. Within her chest, the small hands of regret pulled on her shaking emotions.

"_I knew you were weak, Tsunade,"_ Orochimaru smiled from his corner of the room. "_I'd be a much better Hokage."_

"You'd start wars with every ally we have," Tsunade said absentmindedly as she tried to focus on her work. Again. But it wasn't working. Orochimaru was distracting her with unnecessary thoughts.

She didn't even know _why_ she was arguing with him.

"_I wouldn't regret protecting MY village."_

"You'd kill everyone in your village if it fits your purpose!" Tsunade yelled. "Don't compare me to you!" She glared at the puppet. Even though she knew that he wasn't really talking to her, she couldn't stop his voice from entering her head. "It was necessary!" She had to send Sasori away. Even if it hurt her apprentice, she had to do it. "I couldn't let it happen again." She spoke slowly, as she convinced herself that she had no other choice. "He's a heartless nukenin."

Their time together meant nothing.

_'Orochimaru's never coming back.'_

"_You're confusing him with me,"_ Orochimaru grinned from his seat. _'Do you miss me, Tsunade?'_

"Urusai! He attacked the village." Like Orochimaru did. It was unforgiveable. She had allowed him to stay because she believed that he wasn't a threat. "I knew he was evil." She refused to regret it. She refused to regret her decision. He had killed so many people that even a month later, the names of the dead were still coming into her office. The medic-nin were still identifying everyone who were brought into the morgue.

Tsunade had worked for hours, trying to extract the poison from his victims.

_The glow of shosen jutsu had never seemed as cold as it was this day. The groans of the dying rose from the ground where the bodies of Sasori's victims sprawled. Medic-nin had arrived as quickly as possible, but they still couldn't move those who were alive. Only the dead were being carried away. If they moved the poisoned people, they would only die in transport. If they were moved, the poison would move even more quickly through their bodies. _

_'Kuso!' Tsunade glanced at Sakura. The pink-haired girl was still frozen. The ANBU were holding her with kanashibari. If only Sakura hadn't lost control, Tsunade could have expected her help. _

_But this poison... _

_The blond kunoichi smeared the back of her hand across her wet brow. _

_She couldn't extract any of the poison!_

"_Like it?" Sasori's voice spoke proudly as he watched Tsunade's hands desperately search for the poison._

"_I improved them since my fight with Sakura." Even though the Hokage couldn't see him, she knew that the Suna-nin was smiling, mocking her futile efforts. "I can tell you about it, but it won't help THAT man. He's already dead."_

_Tsunade stared at her glowing hands. She had focussed so intently on extracting the poison—even a little bit of poison—that she didn't see that her patient had already died. "Kuso yarou!" She turned, her superhuman fist rising, ready to punch the Suna-nin._

_But Sakura was watching. As Tsunade turned, she saw Sakura's eyes fix on her. And she couldn't do it. She couldn't kill Sasori in front of Sakura._

So, her only choice was to kill him without Sakura seeing.

The autopsy reports that came into her office revealed what she had suspected. Obviously, she couldn't extract any of the poisons that Sasori had used. He had mixed them beforehand, in a way and with such ingredients that any medical intervention would have been useless.

He had planned it ahead of time. He knew that he would need it.

That was why she couldn't let him live. Anything less than death was too merciful. Anything less than death was a threat to Konoha.

_'Genius,'_ Orochimaru said as he read the paper in Tsunade's hands. _'I couldn't have thought of a better poison.'_

"You don't fight with poison," Tsunade complained as she pulled the report away.

_'Bitterness will only make you into a lonely old woman.'_

"Hn." Tsunade ignored Orochimaru's comment. As she looked at the autopsy reports again, she knew that she had made the right decision. This Suna-nin was smart enough to defeat her with this poison. She had to wonder when he found the time and privacy to develop it.

That made him even more dangerous.

She couldn't regret her decision. Even if it hurt Sakura, it was for the safety of the village. Sasori had to die.

_'They should be leaving the village about now.'_

Such inhumane poison should never have existed.

**D**eidara was curious. Of course he was curious. He wanted to know if the ANBU-taichou was right. _'Sasori-sama's leaving Konoha?'_ But he didn't have time to think about it. As soon as he was far enough from the two ANBU watching the Uchiha estate, the thought had already flown out of his head. He had more important things to do than wonder about Sasori's fate. He didn't need the Suna-nin to complete his mission.

But he was bored. He admitted that he was bored. From where he stood, the jinchuuriki stood in plain view. The blond Konoha-shinobi was moving boxes within the Uchiha estate, and he has been doing the same thing for a long time. Since he returned, that was all he has been doing.

He wondered if the two ANBU-nin watching Sasuke was as bored as he was. Sasuke has been doing nothing since Naruto returned, only sitting and staring at the ground between his feet. It was even more boring.

Deidara wished he could blow something up.

But he couldn't! If he destroyed Konoha, even a small part of it, the same fate that Sasori had received would be his. And he still needed to capture the jinchuuriki. He didn't know how he was going to do it. He didn't even know how the blond shinobi had managed to elude him for six months. But he knew that he would capture him eventually. Even though Naruto was crumbling away, he knew that he would return.

Then, that would be his chance to catch him.

There wouldn't be a second chance. If he failed, they would know that he was still working with Akatsuki. Then, an ambush was completely out of the question.

_'N-nani?'_ Deidara looked around to make sure that the jinchuuriki didn't only walk inside. "Kuso!" The Kyuubi was there only a moment ago, but now, he was gone!

"Naruto..." Within the mysterious swirl of ash, the dark-haired Uchiha slumped to the ground, whispering the blond shinobi's name as he hugged Naruto's black and orange jacket against his chest. "Naruto..."

Something had happened while Deidara wasn't watching.

"Kuso."

Something had happened and the blond nukenin didn't see what it was. He didn't even have a clue to help him understand!

"Have you been doing nothing?"

Deidara turned quickly, his eyes falling onto the plant-like man. "Zetsu!" He knew that the Akatsuki spy couldn't be too far. They were watching his movements closely. Akatsuki wasn't going to let him forget why he was there. If he wasn't careful, Zetsu could decide that he was trying to escape from the organization. If he wasn't careful, the Kusa-nin could kill him...and eat him.

"You've been in this village for over six months, and you _still_ found nothing?" Zetsu raised a grey eyebrow. **"You're trying to betray us!"**

"Doing nothing?" Deidara didn't know what kind of spy Zetsu was, but even Tobi would have seen the jinchuuriki standing there a moment ago. "The jinchuuriki was just here, yeah!" He needed to get away. He needed to grab hold of that jinchuuriki, pull him in front of Zetsu and yell, _"Here he is, yeah! Here! I've been looking for a way to capture him, but you had to have him now. So there! Take him, yeah!"_ He was doing something important all this time. What was _Zetsu_ doing? _'Where was he a moment ago, when the jinchuuriki was standing right in front of me, yeah?'_

"_**That,"**_Zetsu pointed at Sasuke, **"doesn't look anything like the Kyuubi jinchuuriki."**

"He disappeared," Deidara said seriously. "He _was_ standing there, yeah." Past tense.

He was gone now.

"Losing the jinchuuriki is the same as doing nothing for the last six months," Zetsu said. **"Catch him soon, or we'll have to kill you!"**

"Che-!" Deidara turned away as the Kusa-nin sank into the ground once more. He didn't need Zetsu to remind him that he was running out of time. The members of Akatsuki can only be patient for so long. If he didn't capture Naruto soon, they would consider him a traitor, a runaway like Orochimaru and Sasori.

They would kill him.

"Kuchiyose: Edo Tensei!"

_'That's what it is?'_ Deidara frowned as the blond shinobi jumped angrily at the younger Uchiha. He had heard of the technique briefly from Sasori and the other, older members of the organization, but he didn't know much about it.

How could he counter a technique he knew almost nothing about?

_'Kuso! Zetsu had to miss it, yeah!'_ If he saw this, he wouldn't be able to complain about the last six months anymore. The jinchuuriki wasn't even in a stable body!

He was a summoning.

**N**aruto had spoken as if it wasn't a big secret. Sasuke had expected something smaller. "Naruto," he said with his dry voice. "Move some of your boxes." He hadn't touched anything since he decided to let Naruto fade into his memory, but now that the blond shinobi was back, there was no need to leave everything in the middle of the room.

"They're in the way?"

"Of course they're in the way. They're in the middle of the room, sitting in front of the door, and are all over the halls and garden," Sasuke said acridly.

"You're in an even worse mood than earlier, Sasuke," Naruto said bluntly, but he moved the boxes nonetheless. "I'll put these boxes of ramen in the kitchen." Even though he was falling apart, he wasn't going to argue. At least, not today. Sasuke looked like he was going to collapse. "Is working in the Keimu Butai hard?" He had thought it wouldn't be so strenuous.

But Sasuke didn't answer. He only stared at the ground.

A lot of thoughts went through Sasuke's head. When Itachi was still alive, the majority of those thoughts were about killing him, but now that his brother was dead, Sasuke had almost nothing to think about. At least, this was true until a few minutes ago, when Naruto told him about Sakura.

In the back of his mind, he already knew. The memory had been trying to surface for a long time. But he didn't remember how or when Sakura... _'I still can't remember.'_

All he remembered were the rumours that buzzed around him, just out of earshot, but loud enough to remember clearly. As he walked through Konoha on any regular day, on a routine patrol through the thickly populated areas, the buzz would be louder than usual.

Sasori was the father of that child.

"Naruto," Sasuke said as his eyes rose from the ground, searched for the blond shinobi. He remembered the rumours, but there was also the clear knowledge that the rumours were wrong. And he didn't understand why. "Naruto?"

His fuzzy mind couldn't remember properly yet. Reality or dream? Was Naruto really there?

Then the blond shinobi walked by.

"Naruto!" Sasuke jumped to his feet and grabbed the blond, hugging him tightly. Through the light touch of his hands, he still felt Naruto's chest crumbling, and he couldn't stop it. He couldn't just press the ash and dirt back together to reform the jinchuuriki's body.

And he couldn't ask Naruto not to go. Even if he said it, he would still leave. All he could do was hug him and wait for the moment he vanished again.

"Ne, Sasuke," Naruto said slowly, as he realized that the dark-haired shinobi wasn't going to let go. If Sasuke hadn't stopped him, he would have had enough time to move another box of ramen. Unfortunately, it seemed as if the house would remain cluttered for a little longer. "You're not going to forget summoning me again, right?" He asked the question, expecting a straightforward answer.

But Sasuke's face remained buried in his back, his arms tightening slightly around Naruto's disappearing body.

"You better summon me, teme!" Naruto shouted loudly, even though half his face was already gone. "If you don't, I'll kill you!"

"Hn. Kill me?" How could a man who no longer lived kill him? "Naruto..." He clutched the formless jacket against his chest, Naruto's jacket. The words he had wanted to say to the blond shinobi remained trapped within his throat. No one was there to hear them. "Naruto..."

He contemplated leaving Naruto alone, letting him die. But he couldn't do it again. He had left him alone for so long, and Naruto had threatened him so vehemently that he couldn't disobey. As far as he knew, if he didn't summon Naruto this time, he really would kill him. Anything was possible for that dense blond shinobi. In Naruto's world, his flawed logic made anything possible.

"Baka."

He heard Naruto clearly in his mind. _"Sasuke! Teme, summon me or else!"_ The idle threats floated around his head. _"I know what you're thinking! Kuso!"_

"I'm not even considering not summoning you, Naruto," Sasuke said with the smirk that said he was lying.

"_Usotsuki!"_

Sasuke glared at the Naruto apparition. "Then I'm not summoning you!"

"_Teme!"_ Naruto glared at Sasuke. _"You promised!"_

"I _never_ promised anything."

"_I'll kill you!"_ Naruto punched Sasuke, his fist falling through the dark-haired shinobi's chest to send the air flying.

"Baka."

"_Who are you calling an idiot?!"_

"I never said I _wasn't_ going to summon you either."

He didn't have enough resolve. He couldn't live without Naruto anymore. He had tried, and it brought him back to this. All roads led back to Naruto. Eventually, he would give in again. He had lived too long by himself. Now that he had Naruto, he couldn't go back to those days when he had lived alone. He couldn't return to an empty house where the warmth of living people no longer existed. He needed that smile to welcome him home.

"Kuchiyose: Edo Tensei!"

**D**eidara waited for an hour before leaving. He couldn't watch the jinchuuriki anymore. Eventually, there would be an opening, but at the moment, he wanted to leave before he saw anything he didn't want to see. Like another hour of moving boxes. As far as he was concerned, the jinchuuriki was only going to move boxes for the rest of the day, and he didn't have time to—and he didn't want to—watch it.

He still needed to plan when he would capture him.

_'How do I catch someone who will disappear if I touch him?'_ He was exaggerating. He knew that it wasn't _that_ easy to crush a summoning, but he couldn't let go of the sight of ash...grey ash...floating in the air.

He only had once chance.

_'Tobi?'_ Deidara stared at the masked nukenin. For a moment, he thought he was seeing things, but the idiotic gestures of the ex-Akatsuki subordinate were too realistic to dismiss. _'I haven't blown up anything in a while.'_ Slowly, the clay spiders emerged from his hand mouths.

**T**obi had arrived at the village a week ago, so he had plenty of time to search for Sasori. But it was useless. He had searched the entire village three times, in every place that he knew the Suna-nin would go—and in every place that his pink-haired kunoichi master, Sakura, would take him—and he still couldn't find Sasori. The redhead wasn't there.

The Akatsuki subordinate didn't even try to hide himself. There were stranger Konoha-nin than him. No one thought twice about his walking around their village, not as long as he wore a Konoha hitai-ate. And he had one tied around his arm, stolen from a house he had searched earlier that week. The citizens didn't think twice about his presence. The village was too big for everyone to know each other.

But being safe for the moment wasn't enough to push imminent danger from his mind. It wasn't distracting enough to forget his failures. Hidan and Kakuzu were coming. Dread already weighed heavily in his chest. They were close.

And he still hadn't found Sasori yet.

He couldn't die without killing Sasori. It was that redhead's fault! Sasori was the source of all his misery. He had caused this downward spiral which led from Akatsuki to his current fate. Death. Death waited for him, stood around the corner stalking him, called him at night and asked if it could visit. Death wrapped its bony fingers around his throat, and strangled the will to live slowly out of his body.

_'But where is he!'_ After searching for a week, he had expected at least a small trace of Sasori. "Hm?" Tobi turned. The faint scurry of something on his shoulder drew his attention. _'Kumo?' _At that moment, blood exploded from his arm. "Kuso!" Deidara was close. As his back erupted in painful explosions, he knew that Deidara was close. He had focussed too much on running away from Hidan and Kakuzu. He had forgotten about Deidara. The Iwa-nin was still in Konoha.

"Tobi, long time no see, yeah." Deidara smiled from behind him. "You look horrible."

"D-Deidara-senpai," Tobi managed to say as blood rushed into his mouth, filling his mask.

"That's all you have to say to me?" The Iwa-nukenin looked disappointedly at Tobi.

"Wh-where's Sasori-sama?"

"You just missed him," Deidara said as he released a small clay bird into the air. "I can probably send you to him..." He watched the bird circle overhead for a moment before willing it down. "...but I don't feel like it, yeah."

Tobi stared at Deidara. He had spent a week searching for Sasori. At any moment, he could die. Someone else could appear and rip off his head. He didn't have time to listen to Deidara! "Tell me where he went!" He missed him? Where did Sasori go?

"Hm?" Deidara glared murderously at Tobi. No one told him what to do. No one! "He was sent back to Suna," he said. "If you want to join him..." The torigata nendo flew forwards angrily. "...then die!"

_'No.'_ Tobi stared at the bird swooping from the sky, his heart beating loudly in his mind as it scrambled to escape. He couldn't die yet. He still had to kill Sasori. _'Sh-Shunshin no Jutsu!'_ He pulled out all the chakra that he could find from his bloody body. He couldn't fight Deidara. Obviously, the Iwa-nin would win. But he could still run away.

It was his only choice if he wanted to kill Sasori.

**E**vening had arrived. As soon as she left the Hokage tower, Sakura couldn't find the strength to go anywhere else but home. Her mother and father didn't say anything, only watched her helplessly as she walked up the stairs to her room. Discovering the punishment Tsunade had given to Sasori was tiring enough, but Naruto had completely depleted her energy. She just didn't remember Naruto being so tiring. Even though she knew that he hadn't changed—because the dead _couldn't_ change—she never felt so weary after scolding him.

Perhaps it was because of Sasori.

She was still angry. Those words... Those weren't the kind of things he should say! Those were the last words he would ever say to her, and all he could say was kill Kakashi? Heartless. He was truly heartless! "You should have said something else, baka!" She never wanted to punch him more. There were so many other things he could have said. Tell her to kill the ANBU and rescue him. Tell her to transform into him and take his place. Tell her to do something! Anything! Something outrageous so that she could at least laugh about it.

So that she didn't miss him so much.

_'What am I thinking? I don't miss him at all! Shannaro!'_ She grabbed the blanket on the floor and strangled it. Sasori's blanket... Her mother had washed everything while she was alway.

It didn't even smell like Sasori anymore.

"Kuso." She knew it. She knew that she couldn't sit and do nothing. She had already decided long before she realized it.

_'Sasuke-kun, gomen nasai.'_ She was going to do something very dangerous.

**T**he Iwa-nin stared at the ground where his torigata nendo had crashed. Tobi had gotten away. Of course. That spy had more lives than he could count in a lifetime. Killing him wasn't going to be as easy as that. "Kuso."

"Looks like we're late."

"It's all your fault, Kakuzu," Hidan said as he walked up. "Were you chasing ghosts all this time, Deidara? I thought you'd find the jinchuuriki by now, or at least have Sasori's head for us."

"Walking around as if it's nothing," Deidara said without turning to look at the Akatsuki pair. "Don't talk to me." If anyone saw them now, they would know that he was still a part of Akatsuki.

"You plan on betraying us?" Kakuzu didn't mind if Deidara wanted to betray them. There was a lot of money on the Iwa-nin's head.

"Hiding like a coward," Hidan said angrily, "has produced nothing over the last six months." Annoying. Deidara was annoying him!

"I was gathering information since Zetsu's busy with something else, yeah." Although whatever it was was a mystery to everyone in Akatsuki. It was probably something completely unrelated to the organization. "You can't say that _you_ were doing anything productive."

Hidan growled at Deidara. _'If this bastard's mission wasn't so damned important...'_ ...he would have killed him. "Tobi's not here," he said to Kakuzu. "Let's go." If there was no one to kill here, there was no point in staying. "I told you we shouldn't have stopped!"

Deidara watched the pair shunshin away with a sigh. Today wasn't a good day. Everyone was catching him as soon as he lost sight of the jinchuuriki, and never when the jinchuuriki was right in front of him. If he didn't capture that blond shinobi, if he failed in any small way, they would definitely throw him out of Akatsuki.

And that meant death.

"Deidara, why are you standing in the middle of the road?" In the midst of twilight, the Iwa-nin turned to see Sakura walking in his direction. "If you have nothing to do, go home." In that case, it meant go to her house, but at least her parents didn't hate Deidara as much as they hated Sasori.

"I should be asking _you_ that question, yeah," Deidara said as the straps of Sakura's beige knapsack glared through the dim light of evening. "What are you doing?" At this time of day, Sakura should be at home, not walking along the empty streets. The backpack was enough for him to understand that she was leaving.

"Taking a walk." Sakura walked pass him. "Go home, Deidara. You shouldn't stand out here. Someone from the Keimu Butai or the ANBU might mistake you for a nukenin and kill you."

She was going somewhere.

But he wasn't going to ask where she was going. If he heard her answer, she would expect one in return. It was the same reason why he knew she wouldn't expect an answer from him.

"Hn. Thanks for the concern, yeah." But Deidara had no intention of going back to the Haruno household. His mission was almost over. All he needed to do was find an opening before bringing the jinchuuriki back to Akatsuki.

**End Chapter 26**

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Fire's English tidbits for those who care:

--;; I don't remember if I've written this before so tell me if I've already explained it. There are two types of words that end with -ing. The first kind of -ing words are called gerunds. Those are words that have the -ing ending but are considered nouns. The second kind are considered participles. Gerunds are always either the subject or the object of he sentence. If it's a gerund, the preceding noun should be possessive. For example, "His eating ramen everyday couldn't possibly be healthy." Eating is the subject of this sentence; therefore the preceding noun should be possessive. It's modifying eating. If a name replaces the pronoun, then it should also be possessive. Ie. "Naruto's eating ramen everyday couldn't possibly be healthy." On the other hand, if the word ending in -ing is a participle, the noun remains as is. In that case, the participle acts as an adjective and is modifying the noun. The noun should be the subject or the object of the sentence. For example, "Sasuke watched him eating his disgusting ramen." Where eating was the subject before, now it's an adjective. Eating isn't a gerund so the preceding noun isn't possessive. Eating is modifying "him." The same rule applies if a name replaces the pronoun. Ie. "Sasuke watched Naruto eating his disgusting ramen."

Fire's babbling:

Sasori: Hm...so Sakura likes me?

Sasuke: (shrugs) How would I know? I don't want to understand an insane person like her.

Sakura: I'm not insane!

Fire: It's the calm before the storm.

Deidara: You're focussing on me?

Fire: (nods) What did you think?

Deidara: You're going to reveal everything!

Fire: (cringes) ...

Tsunade: If anyone's confused about the poison that Sasori used, I can post the autopsy report at the end of the next chapter. --;; It was... (cold shivers) ...terrible.

Sasori: I'm a genius.

Tsunade: We need to destroy you before you teach it to anyone.

Fire: Um, thanks for the offer, Tsunade-sama.

Sasuke: Why are you apologizing to me?

Sakura: ...

Naruto: Waah! Don't do anything dangerous, Sakura-chan! I'll go with y― I'll do it for you! Just leave it to me!

Sasuke: You're an idiot.

Sakura: Um...no. You'll fall apart before you finish the task.

Naruto: --;; Oh yeah. I forgot.

Fire: Okay! Review! Tell me what you thought. Good parts? Bad parts? Are you curious about the poison that Sasori used? Do you want a detailed explanation? I have all the technical, biological explanations if you want to read them. --;; But the science is really potent. If you don't like science, you might want to stay out of that report if I post it up.

Sasori: What's not to like about toxicology?

Fire: --;; Ja. I'm going to leave before I have to answer that. (pulls Kisame away)

Kisame: Hey! I haven't said anything yet!

---------------------------


	28. Twenty seven: Prelude of a Storm

Naruto: (crying) Waah! Sasuke don't die!

Sasuke: Stop reading that stupid story and focus!

Naruto: But...

Sasuke: (angry) I said stop reading it!

Fire: Are you reading fanfics again?

Naruto: (holds up Wait for Me: Leaving) Waah!

Fire: Um...that reminds me! (turns to the audience) This is my reference note, so if you didn't read the first book in the series, Wait for Me: Leaving, you need to know this. Both Sasuke and Naruto died in the first book. I won't explain how, but I hinted at it—

Sasuke: We practically told you at the beginning of this story.

Fire: Um...we _hinted_ at it earlier, and since Naruto's still dead, it should be fairly obvious. Anyway, there are scenes referring to that day and that event so if you want to know the whole story, read the first book. The story is still on so either go to my userprofile or search for the links.

Sasuke: All the titles of our series has "Wait for Me" in it, and we gave them the whole name. They're not idiots! They know how to search for a story!

Naruto: Waah! Sasuke, don't die! (hugs Sasuke and sobs)

Sasuke: (disgusted) Don't wipe your nose on me! (pushes Naruto away and sighs at his wet shirt)

Fire: Well, that's about it.

Naruto: Sasuke and I worked on this chapter! (looks proudly to the audience)

Sasuke: So don't flame us if it sucks. Naruto's an idiot.

Naruto: But Fire was so depressed! No one wanted to know about Sasori's poison.

Sasori: Then, shouldn't _I_ be the depressed one? No one takes an interest in my work!

Fire: ...

Sasuke: Fire's standing right there.

Naruto: Waah! (runs away)

Fire: I started the chapter. Naruto and Sasuke finished it. Anyway, Tobi! Roll chapter!

Tobi: I can't believe you're still going to kill me, Fire-sama!

Sasori: Are you seriously not going to kill me? I'm going to die in this story.

Naruto: I wrote about ramen!

Fire: You're never writing again!

Naruto: But—

Fire: Now on with the chapter! (pushes Tobi forwards)

Tobi: (sobs) Yes, Fire-sama. (rolls chapter 27 onto the screen)

---------------------------

Notice: If you didn't know that there is a holiday next week and the week after that, grab a calendar. Christmas, the Solstice, Passover, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and the New Year are coming. This means I won't be posting for two weeks. No. I'm not lazy. This means I won't have access to a computer. I don't have net at home, remember? So, take care. I'll be back in the new year with the climax, and the end of this story.

---------------------------

**Chapter 27: Prelude of a Storm**

_**'T**he shadows waiting around the corner cannot be seen. I can't allow you to see them. Endlessly, I've chased them, brandishing mortal weapons to keep your light shining. To keep your world filled with bright happiness. But this human body can only fight for so long. This is my futility. Wanting to protect this god-like being with my flawed hands... Wanting only to hold your happiness for a brief moment in this stretch of eternity... Even if you won't remember me... Even if you won't love me... For this brief moment when you smile for me only, I will hold back the shadows.'_

**E**very morning since he brought Naruto back, Sasuke woke with ash and dirt covering half his body. Every morning since that day, he watched the blond shinobi's sleeping face and wondered how he could hold onto him a little longer. Every morning, he resisted the urge to touch him, to hurt him any further. Every morning, his heart wrenched between loving Naruto, and hating his own uselessness. There was never room for any other emotion, any other thought, any other action than these usual few.

But this morning was different.

The day was coming eventually. Out of all the days of the year, he wondered if it was worth noting. This particular day in July...

The memory had surfaced a while ago, even though he couldn't remember exactly when it was. At the time, there was no significance. This day was still far away, too far away to push the memory into his head. There was nothing Sasuke could do about it. He already knew that Naruto was dead. As for his own death... He could barely remember how he managed to survive through it, and still be alive. No one remembered his own birth. As for rebirths... He couldn't remember it, just as he couldn't remember the day he was born. But whether this was because there was no memory to remember, or because it was only an unsurfaced memory was a mystery to Sasuke.

All he knew was that this was the day. This was the day he and Naruto had died. On the cenotaph, carved in shaky characters, next to their names, was the date. Unmistakeable.

If Sasuke hadn't seen their names on the cenotaph the day before, he wouldn't have believed it.

"Naruto," he said slowly, his eyes fixed on the sky. It would definitely rain today. Like that day, it would rain again. _'Hn.'_ An unfortunate coincidence. "Do you..." Even though the sun hadn't risen over the horizon yet, it didn't make a difference to him. The earlier they went, the sooner they could move on with their lives. "...want to go somewhere?"

Naruto curled the blankets around himself... "No." ...and turned away. As a summoning, he didn't need to wake up early for work, for training, for anything he didn't want to do. "I want to sleep, baka." It was obviously too early to do anything else.

"I want..." Sasuke said slowly as he stared at the sky. _'No. I should acknowledge this day.'_ This was the day he killed Itachi. He should celebrate. At least a little. "...to take you somewhere."

"But," Naruto said wearily, turning slightly so that he could see Sasuke. "Can't we go in the morning?" He closed his eyes again. "It's still night."

"You can eat ramen for break—" Sasuke sighed as a large wind suddenly blew behind him, sending his hair into his face.

All he had to do was mention ramen, and Naruto immediately woke up. It was almost too predictable. With ramen, anyone could lure Naruto away.

**D**uring the night, the clouds that threatened overhead grouped together. By early morning, soft showers woke Sakura, and she found herself dozing on one of the benches lining the streets of Konoha. The grey dawn creeping lazily across the sky wasn't nearly strong enough to break through her unconsciousness. After encountering Deidara, she had walked a few blocks before weariness pushed her onto the bench. If she had the body she possessed six months ago, she wouldn't have fallen asleep. If she still had that body, she wouldn't have been so tired. If she had that body...

The pink-haired girl pulled her body to its feet. Aches poked her stiff limbs, threatening to send her falling to the bench once more. Sakura's sleepy eyes looked around the vacant street, her empty mind trying to remember why she was sleeping outside. All she knew was that she was hungry, and wet, and...

_'I must be insane.'_ Sakura wanted to laugh at herself, but the sounds wouldn't come out of her mouth. There was only the shaking realization that she wasn't making any sense. _'I can't go.'_ But her body moved anyway.

When she looked at her calendar the night before, she saw the glaring date. And she couldn't ignore it. It was the first anniversary...of their deaths. Before she left Konoha, she had to see them.

A lot of people, goals, bonds... A lot of things had died on this day. The first anniversary of Sasuke and Naruto's deaths, she couldn't just ignore it. This was the day Sasuke finally killed his brother. This was the day their team ceased to exist. This was the day...

This was the day she failed to save them.

She had wanted to go to the cenotaph early in the morning, long before anyone else would arrive. In other words, she wanted to avoid Kakashi. Her former sensei always went there, every morning, early in the morning, too early for any sane person, and he usually stayed until noon. She had wanted to pray at their graves without Kakashi distracting her...

...but they were alive, weren't they? Was it wrong to place offerings at the graves of someone alive?

_'I shouldn't go.'_ Placing offerings at the grave of someone who was still alive, it was the same as cursing them to death. She couldn't do that to Sasuke!

As for Naruto... He was still dead. Kind of. The dead couldn't die, right?

Sakura groaned. She was giving herself a headache.

A very big headache.

"Naruto! I told you not to touch that!"

The sound of a hand being smacked. "Teme! You said that's for me!"

"That's not for you!"

"You just said it was for me!"

"..."

"Teme! I'm eating _your_ offering then!"

"Hey! That's mine!"

"Sasuke-kun?" Sakura heard their argument before she came close enough to see them. "Naruto?" The first thing she saw was Sasuke's angry face, glaring at Naruto, his hand holding a kunai, ready to kill him, and Naruto's face, stuffed with what looked like an entire apple, and his hands reaching for an orange.

And there was a steaming cup of ramen sitting peacefully in front of the cenotaph.

_'I can't believe this,'_ she thought to herself as she tried to keep her frustrated anger from overflowing. _'They came to pray at their own graves!'_

"Naruto! Baka!" She shouted as her emotions poured out. "Don't eat the offerings!"

"S-Sakura-cha—!" Naruto choked on the apple.

"Che!" Sasuke placed his kunai back into his kunai pouch. "What are _you_ doing here?"

"Yeah! You should be resting, Sakura-chan!" Naruto ran up to the pink-haired girl. "It's too early for you to be awake!"

"That's not what he meant, Naruto," Sakura said defeatedly. _'No surprise.'_ As Sakura looked at Sasuke, there wasn't even the slightest change in his expression. He was still cold. He was still heartless. His mind was still focussed on one thing, one person. Nothing had changed all these years. As she looked at him, he was still so far away from her. He was still looking elsewhere. She was never his goal, the person he thought of constantly. He never had room for her. He only had enough emotion to feel for one person. He only had enough thoughts for one person. He only had enough desire for one person.

And that person was Naruto.

"Sasuke-kun..." Those eyes that held no curiosity about her obviously unnatural state... He didn't care. He didn't care, or he already knew. "I need to talk to you," she managed to say with her dry throat. The intensity of that emotionless gaze was enough to drain her energy. How could he feel nothing for her? How?

_'Wasn't I your teammate too? Shannaro!'_ Inner Sakura screamed. _'Care about me!'_

"Naruto."

"Hm?" Naruto pulled his hands back quickly. Somehow, he had made his way back to the cenotaph, coincidentally, right in front of that appetizing cup of ramen.

"You can eat that now."

"Yosh! Itadakimasu!" Naruto grabbed the ramen and violently ripped the lid off.

"Is it important?"

Sakura stared at Sasuke. _'Important?'_ She tried not to think about the food she had packed for visiting their graves. She tried to ignore the fact that she was probably crushing the few flowers she could afford with the money from working as a medic-nin at the hospital. Even with Ino giving her a discount, she couldn't afford many flowers. "I'm...leaving," she said softly. "I'm leaving Konoha."

Today.

"What does that have to do with me?" Sasuke turned to Naruto again. "Don't eat my offerings! Naruto!"

His focus was still on Naruto. Even when faced with the possibility of never seeing her again, he still wouldn't look at her. He wouldn't focus only on her.

"I see." She didn't want to tell him. She never wanted to tell him. "Sasuke-kun..." Her hands trembled weakly. Even when she faced Sasori, when she fought that nukenin, she never felt this much fear. "I promise..." If she didn't tell him now, she might never again have this chance to tell him.

That was when Sasuke screamed, his mind exploding. Memories filled his head, sending blood across his vision.

**I**t had happened many times before. He remembered them clearly. Sakura, Ino, any other girl in Konoha that had assumed they loved him had come up to him at some point in his life, and confessed that they liked him. Today wasn't any different. Even though they were standing in front of the cenotaph, it was the perfect place. Secluded. There was no one to overhear.

However, Sasuke didn't want to hear it from Sakura. He didn't want to hear something she had told him before. He had already told her, months ago, over a year ago, that he loved Naruto. What she was saying was useless.

It wouldn't change how he felt.

But it was because of her. It was because of Sakura, everything about her, that he couldn't see her. He didn't want to see her. He didn't want to see her because...

Deep in his mind, he knew. He knew that if he saw her, he wouldn't be able hold it back.

"Whaaa!" Sasuke screamed as black memories stretched from the ground and engulfed him.

He tried to fling them away, the dark leeches that climbed onto his body and sucked the sanity from his body. But they wouldn't let go. They sank their sharp teeth into his skin, tearing across his muscles as he ripped them off.

Blood. Dark blood. The heavy stench of thin, red blood stretched from one side of his mind to the other. Earthly pain, the unwanted gashes of emotions he didn't want, and the emptiness of knowing emotions he couldn't feel again... Emptiness... Loneliness... The emotions that clawed at his heart until there were only tiny shreads, bloodstained shreads that clung to the thought of Naruto, the memory of Naruto, the knowledge that if he summoned Naruto again, he would only hurt him.

But the face that looked back at him that day... Those eyes weren't blue. That hair wasn't the bright yellow he saw in his dreams.

"Sasuke-kun!"

Those words, and that voice didn't belong to Naruto.

"Souka," Sasuke said as he pulled as much of his sanity as possible back to reality. That black sea of memories...if he wasn't careful, he could drown in that insanity. "Sakura..." He turned to the pink-haired girl, even as his hands dug into his skull in futile attempts to hold back the emotions that filled his mind as he looked at her. "That child..."

Sakura had run to see what was wrong with him. He had screamed so suddenly. But now, she backed subconsciously away. He had seen something. He didn't know a moment ago. He didn't understand a moment ago. But that look in his eyes...

"I can't let you leave Konoha."

_'He knows!'_ Sakura wanted to leave now. She wanted to run, _now_! But her legs wouldn't move. "Sasuke-kun..." For the first time, he was thinking about—

"You're not leaving Konoha with that child!"

Sakura slumped disappointedly. No. He wasn't thinking about her. "Sasuke-kun, I promise I'll give you this child." She didn't mind. It was the only thing she could do to make Sasuke happy, to make him feel something for her. Anything. Anything was better than this vacant heart, this emotionless gaze. "Just don't stop me." She had decided to go. "Gomen nasai." She had to go!

"Sakura!" As she turned to run, Sasuke's hand shot out, reached for her arm. But his fingers wrapped around chakra-tinged air. She continued to run further and further away.

_'Leaving the village?'_ She promised to let him raise that child. She was giving it to him. But...

...if she left the village, she could never return again.

**T**he longer Deidara watched the jinchuuriki, the more he learned about him. In fact, there were more than a few interesting facts. First, the Konoha-nin was an idiot. Sakura was obviously pregnant. And Naruto still insisted that she was fat, even after she told him that it wasn't fat. Then, there was the suggestion that she had a child with a Suna-kunoichi. Any other sixteen-year-old would have known that this was impossible.

Second, the jinchuuriki was easy to manipulate, especially when ramen was involved.

Deidara wouldn't have thought it was possible to manipulate such a hotheaded shinobi, but after seeing his reaction to Sasuke's words, it was obvious. All he needed was some cup ramen and the promise of hot water with which to cook those instant noodles. The problem was when he could use this information.

The Iwa-nukenin had no intention of returning to the Haruno household. He had told himself that, and he didn't go back. For the entire night, he had stood outside the Uchiha estate, waiting for the blond shinobi to come out. Waiting exactly by the house had its disadvantages. Sai and Yamato were still watching Uchiha Sasuke. So, Deidara had settled for waiting by the gates of the estate. It didn't matter how far away he was from the jinchuuriki. He couldn't catch him while he was still inside the estate. Not while Sasuke was watching him so closely.

By morning, he was ready to go back. He was cold. The rain had drenched him completely. And he was hungry. On top of that, there was nothing to watch—so he was bored to the brink of insanity—and he didn't bring any food.

Except for cup ramen, but that was bait, for luring and capturing the jinchuuriki. He wasn't allowed to eat it!

Deidara stared annoyedly at the empty landscape. He didn't want to go back. He had no intention of returning to the house, but it seemed as if he had no choice. Until he saw Sasuke and Naruto walk through the gates.

It was his chance.

When Sakura came to the cenotaph, it was perfect. She was always focussed on Sasuke. Now that the dark-haired shinobi wasn't looking, it was the perfect time to capture the jinchuuriki.

**I**t was suspicious. No one would set out on a mission in the afternoon, and especially not with a supposedly dangerous S-ranked criminal. No one! And seeing Kakashi follow them with such a happy expression made him sick. _'Or maybe it's Sakura,'_ he thought as they walked deeper into the forest. They were still in Konoha...the outskirts. Even though they had passed through the gates, they were still close enough so that reinforcements would arrive quickly if they were summoned.

It was still a bad time to escape.

Sasori didn't sleep all night. If he slept, Kakashi would kill him. Even though he was being sent back to Suna, Kakashi would kill him long before then. And his excuse? The grey-haired shinobi would say that Sasori was trying to escape, or that he had attacked him. Because if he was Kakashi, that was what Sasori would have done. If he was Kakashi, it was what Sasori would have said.

If he had the chance, he would killed Kakashi in his sleep too. Even if the Konoha-nin didn't suffer, Sasori would still be satisfied knowing that he had killed him.

So throughout the night, Sasori watched Kakashi watch him.

"You're trying to escape," Kakashi said plainly. "I won't let it happen."

"With these seals on my body, you think I can succeed?" Sasori shrugged lightheartedly. "You're flattering me, Kakashi."

"..." Kakashi only glared at Sasori. "I'm not flattering you. I don't trust you." Even though the seals suppressed Sasori's chakra and kept him from using his shoulder blades, they wouldn't last forever. They've been on that body for a while. Soon, they would fall off.

The seals worked as chakra sponges. For a short while, they would absorb excess chakra, any amount that was created. They absorbed it, but there was nowhere for the chakra to go. There was no way for the seals to discharge the chakra. So, at some point, the sponges will fill, and when they do, chakra will overflow.

At that time, Sasori will be able to use ninjutsu, genjutsu and kugutsu again.

That was why Kakashi couldn't sleep.

That was why Kakashi had to make sure that this mission went well. Sasori had tried to destroy Konoha. Sasori had hurt Sakura...countless times. Sasori had tried to kill him, without any logical reason, and he had killed the innocent people of Konoha in his attempt to accomplish this goal This man was dangerous.

There was the possibility that not even the ANBU of Konoha could handle someone like this.

**R**amen was the best food in the world. It was always delicious. Naruto loved ramen. But there was never enough. A tiny cup of ramen... He usually had several for breakfast, but Sasuke was in such a big hurry that morning. He only allowed him to have six cups of ramen. Then, he kept smacking him when he tried to eat the ramen they had brought.

_'They're my ramen!'_ They were set there for _him_ to eat! They were here, visiting _his_ grave!

Actually, Naruto had no idea where his grave was. Sasuke had no idea where they were buried, but the cenotaph was a good substitute. Their names were etched on the stone surface anyway.

But even though they were here to visit both their graves, he knew that the ramen wasn't for Sasuke. Sasuke hated ramen.

But one cup? How could Sasuke only bring one cup of ramen to the cenotaph?

_'It's a good thing I'm not really dead,'_ Naruto thought angrily as he finished the rest of the cup ramen in his hands. _'Only one cup?'_ He wanted to hit Sasuke for being so thoughtless. What kind of offering was one cup of ramen? There should be at least two...or twenty...cases! _'I'm still hungry.'_ His stomach growled loudly.

"Kawai, yeah?" Deidara held out a cup of ramen. "I heard that loud growl." He smiled as Naruto appeared directly in front of him. "Sounds like you didn't eat enough for breakfast."

"Yeah," Naruto said with a grin as he gulped down the contents of the entire cup. "Ano..." His eyes narrowed as he stared at Deidara. "You look very familiar. Have we met before?"

"Ah, no," Deidara said quickly. _'Baka doesn't even remember who I am!'_ The Iwa-nin wanted to tear the jinchuuriki's head off. How could he forget him!

"Oh." Without a second thought, Naruto grabbed the second cup of ramen from Deidara's hands.

Not even noticing that he was being slowly led away from the cenotaph, and Sasuke.

**T**obi had run in a direction, any direction, as long as it took him out of Konoha. Sunagakure... Sasori was heading for Sunagakure. That meant he should go southwest, toward Sunagakure no Sato and Kaze no Kuni. "Kuso!" Tobi slumped to the ground. The blood covering him plainly displayed the pain sticking to his body. When he moved, his open wounds gushed brightly, dripping dark patches of red to the ground.

At this rate, Hidan and Kakuzu would find him.

That was why he couldn't just sit there. He couldn't just sit on the forest floor and stare at the trees. He had to run. He had to get out of there! HE HAD TO FIND SASORI!

Tobi peeled his body from the ground. He couldn't die now. He couldn't die until he killed Sasori.

**End Chapter 27**

---------------------------

Fire's English tidbits for those who care:

Today, we're going to talk about the slash since I was also guilty of this problem up until a few years ago. Um...this/ . But more specifically, I'm going to talk about using them for alternatives. In colloquial writing, the slash is used for alternatives, like, "one doesn't always like his/her parents." But in formal writing, it's best to rephrase the sentence and avoid using the slash. Ie. "one does always like his or her parents." Using a slash in sentences like these disrupts the sentence and the paragraph. To allow for easier reading, try to avoid them, especially in essays. I'm so ashamed. (sighs)

Fire's babbling:

Tobi: Fire-sama's so cruel. (cries)

Fire: Um...I didn't write that part. Naruto and Sasuke finished writing the chapter, not me. I had nothing to do with it.

Sasuke: Fire stopped writing after the first few paragraphs of the second section.

Naruto: I thought of it! (grins proudly)

Tobi: (cries) Naruto-sama's so cruel!

Fire: I already said you're going to die, didn't I?

Sasori: Can I kill him?

Deidara: I thought I was going to kill him!

Zetsu: He's my subordinate. I should kill him.

**Zetsu: He always wanted to be _in_ Akatsuki!**

Fire: ...

Sasuke: That was a horrible joke.

Zetsu: I didn't say it.

Sakura: Now to kill Sasori!

Fire: The Sakura in the story doesn't sound like she's going to kill Sasori.

Sasori: Because Sakura loves me! (hugs Sakura)

Sakura: Don't touch me! (punches Sasori away)

Fire: Anyway, leave me a review. And yes, Tobi's part in the story has a significance. He's a very, _very_ important character in the story, so I'm not just putting him in for no reason. If you want to find out why I keep bringing him up, you'll have to read on. Like I said before_, everything in my story is important, down to the smallest detail!_ Bwahahaha! (continued manical laughter) Ahem. Next time, the climax of the story, although you'll have to wait two weeks for it. (looks nervously at the audience) Waah! Don't kill me! (runs away)

Kisame: For once, Fire forgot about―

Fire: (reappears and grabs Kisame) Waah! Almost forgot about you! (pulls Kisame away)

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	29. Twenty eight: Searching

Fire: --;;; First post in the new year and―

Sasori: Someone wants to know about the poison.

Fire: I'll have to edit the report then. Expect it next chapter, EasilyAmusedReader-san. It's...um...complicated. A lot more complicated than that.

Sasori: Because I'm a genius.

Tsunade: And because animal poisons don't work that fast, or that...cruelly. (glares at Sasori)

Fire: As for the DB reference, I don't mind. There are _a lot_ of similarities between the two series that I'm just not going to go into. But Masashi-sensei admires Toriyama-sensei, so I understand emulating him. --;;

Naruto: Ramen!

Fire: And don't forget that he's not quite himself. His disintegrating state is interfering with his brain.

Naruto: Ramen!

Fire: Although even I don't know to what extent it's affecting him.

Naruto: Ramen!

Deidara: I said I'd buy him ramen. (shouts at Naruto) I DIDN'T SAY I WAS ACTUALLY GOING TO DO IT, YEAH!

Fire: So Aurora-san, you're mistaken. Deidara won't be feeding Naruto.

Naruto: But―

Deidara: No.

Naruto: But―

Fire: That's what Itachi would have done.

Itachi: ...

Fire: And if I write a book to conclude this series, it won't be as long as this one, but it won't be as short as nine or ten chapters. --;; I'll be re-introducing another character into the cast so the storyline will be a little less complicated than this one, but still complicated. Um...hint: it's someone that a lot of people like, but who has vanished since the beginning of the series.

Itachi: That's too obvious.

Fire: As for the miscarriage thing, I already mentioned that she would have miscarried a long time ago, but there are several factors around that. Um, I won't say anything about stress. It _is_ a factor so I'm agreeing with you, Aurora-san. It's just that there are a lot of people who are reducing stress around her. Tsunade locked her up for a month, and before that, she was encountering spread out stressful events so it wasn't straining her body too much. And don't forget that she's a medic-nin. She can handle small problems on her own. Um...that's SMALL problems. Anything really big and she would be in trouble. --;;

Sasuke: I screamed because of the pain.

Fire: That was the memory of pain, Sasuke.

Sasuke: It was still pain. If you don't remember, I was bleeding all over the place.

Naruto: Is EasilyAmusedReader-san saying I'll just come back to life?

Fire: Um...if Naruto dies again, he won't be coming back.

Naruto: No! Don't kill me!

Fire: If Naruto dies this time, the Kyuubi would have been taken away, so there is no way of restoring the Kyuubi to his body. If the Kyuubi is taken away, he would return to being the sum of the Edo Tensei parts, ash, dirt and a dead sacrifice. --;; And you can't re-seal the Kyuubi into something like that.

Tobi: This is getting long, Fire-sama.

Fire: Anyway, I've split the climax of the story into two or three parts to keep the chapters from getting too long. So this is part one. Tobi, the chapter!

Tobi: (crying) And you're still going to kill me. (pulls Chapter 28 onto the screen)

---------------------------

**Chapter 28: Searching**

_**'W**hy are you leaving when I have given you everything these hands could give? When I speak, I give you all the words. When I see, I give you all the visions. I hear only sounds for you. I feel only emotions for you. These fingers' movements are for you. I will do anything. So, tell me why you're still leaving. In your heart, what are you searching for? If it's love, I will love you more than anyone can. If it's warmth, I will hold you with more gentleness than anyone can. With open arms, I'm waiting, still waiting. So turn back to me. Quickly. The seasons will eventually dry these emotions. How can I wait forever when you're rendering my heart barren?'_

**N**aruto stared at the back of the blond man's head as he walked after him. It has been irritating him since they left the cenotaph. He knew that he had seen him before, but he just couldn't remember when that was, or if his memory was right. But there was nothing wrong with eating ramen while he thought about it, so he continued walking, tempted by curiosity and ramen. "Ano-sa," Naruto said slowly, drawing Deidara's attention with a single word. "I think I've met you before." His memory was cloudy. Being dead had that effect. But he definitely knew this man

"So you really can't remember me, yeah?" Deidara tried his best to suppress his anger. If he allowed himself to hit the Konoha shinobi, the jinchuuriki's body would explode and all his effort would be wasted.

"I know!" Naruto grinned triumphantly as a name appeared in his mind. "I remember now!" He knew he would remember if he tried hard enough. "Ino! You're Ino!"

"WHO THE HELL IS INO?!" Deidara shouted. He knew that the Kyuubi jinchuuriki was an idiot. Itachi had told them that he was an idiot. But this was insane! They had fought each other before. At least, he should remember that he was an enemy!

"So, you're not Ino?" Naruto's face contorted into a confused knot. "I was certain you were Ino," he mused to himself. "Then who's Ino?" He had remembered only a short while ago. He couldn't have forgotten who it was already.

Deidara growled beneath his breath, trying to vent his frustration without destroying the jinchuuriki's body. If he returned without the jinchuuriki, Akatsuki would definitely kill him. They were missing enough members so that the leader could want to _cleanse and reform_ the organization. That meant a lot of them could be fired, literally flamed, murdered so that he could gather stronger members, new members who could actually finish their missions.

"Innnnoooo? Iiiino? Ino? Iiiiiiiiinooooo?"

Not only was the amnesia insulting him, the jinchuuriki's stupidity was beginning to annoy him too.

"Are you _sure_ I don't know you?"

Deidara wanted to hit him. Just a little. If he hit him in the arm, that would be okay, right?

"Yes." He had denied that the blond shinobi knew him, which wasn't a lie, but they didn't exactly not know each other either.

He just really wanted to hit him.

"By the way, where are you taking me?" The blond man had said that he would buy him ramen, but the village wasn't coming any closer, even though they had been walking for a while. They definitely weren't heading toward Ichiraku Ramen.

"A place..." Deidara tried to remember what he had said to the jinchuuriki to make him follow him, and after a moment, the anger clouding his memory subsided. "...that has the best ramen you can find."

"But Ichiraku Ramen isn't in this direction." Naruto stared confusedly at the nukenin. "If it's the best ramen, we should be—"

"You won't know until you eat it," Deidara mumbled irritatedly.

Naruto blinked. He was right. Besides, it was still ramen. As long as he wasn't paying for it, he was okay with walking in any direction.

Until he walked into a sudden swell in the ground.

It wasn't there before. This tiny hill had suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Naruto kicked it as he rubbed his face. This mound had definitely surprised him. And now he looked so much like an idiot that his companion probably wouldn't want to buy him ramen anymore. _'Kuso!' _But as he looked closer, the mound seemed to be growing. "Nani?" The blond summoning jumped back, his hands reaching for kunai. That black cloak and those red clouds were unmistakeable. It was Akatsuki!

"Are you trying to sabotage me?" Deidara said irritatedly. Zetsu had deliberately appeared to take his jinchuuriki away.

"No, I'm not trying to sabotage you," Naruto said confusedly.

"Of course not," Zetsu said as his arms snapped around the blond Konoha-nin, tightening softly so that he couldn't escape. "I haven't seen this technique in a long time. That's all." He grinned at the Iwa-nukenin, as if he was going to eat him. **"Unless a weakling like you knows about Orochimaru's Edo Tensei, you need my help."**

Deidara resisted the urge to grab the jinchuuriki back. He had caught the Kyuubi, and he wasn't going to allow Zetsu to take his glory, but the Kusa-nin was right. He couldn't possibly think of a way to keep the summoning from vanishing before they were ready to extract the bijuu. He needed Zetsu's help.

In fact...

"What did you do to him?"

...the jinchuuriki hadn't struggled once since Zetsu arrived.

**S**asuke had turned to tell Naruto that he was running after Sakura, but as soon as he turned around, he couldn't see the jinchuuriki anywhere. He had complained to the empty space about playing when he was in a hurry. He had thought Naruto was hiding for fun. That idiot did stupid things like that often, for no logical reason other than to gain attention. In fact, he did it many times when they were still genin. So, Sasuke hadn't thought there was anything wrong with finding empty space behind him. Until he saw the discarded paper cup on the ground.

Naruto didn't finish the soup.

No one else would have thought it was unusual. Sakura and Kakashi would have looked at him like he was crazy. But he knew Naruto far better than anyone else. For someone like Naruto, the idea of leaving even one drop of soup in its container, even if it was only instant ramen soup, was ridiculous. Naruto always, _always_ drank all the soup.

To leave his ramen unfinished, something must have happened to him.

And there were only two people in Konoha who would want to kidnap Naruto. One was on his way to his execution. The other was definitely the one who took him.

_'When I find that Iwa-yarou, I'm tearing him apart!'_

All thoughts of Sakura had vanished, replaced by a blond nukenin. Deidara wasn't going to escape. Not with Naruto!

**T**he sky was brightening by the time Sakura's legs shivered and collapsed, sending the bulk of her body sliding to the ground. By then, she couldn't stop anymore. By then, she was already far from the village. _'Sasuke-kun...'_ She had really hoped he would feel something for her, but it was a useless dream. Those dark eyes hid everything but the emotions in his heart.

Sakura stood on shaking legs only to fall again as pain shot from her belly into her limbs. But this pain wasn't new. Under so much stress, any other woman would have miscarried by now. Any other child would have given up trying to come into this world.

It was stubborn, just like its father.

_'Stubborn? Is Sasuke-kun stubborn?'_ Sakura couldn't remember. _'Shannaro!'_ Sasori wasn't the father of this child! _'Stop thinking that!'_

"S-Sakura-san!"

A pair of bandaged arms caught Sakura before she hit the ground. If she didn't have to leave the village, she would have taken herself to the hospital by now, but she just didn't have time. She didn't have time for detours. If her parents knew where she was going, they would lock her in her room for the next two months.

"Sakura-san, daijoubu-des ka?" Lee's round eyes stared at her.

"I'm fine," Sakura said as she pushed herself shakily away from the firm support of his arms. She needed to leave, even if she had to crawl out of this village.

She had already forgotten why she wanted to bring Sasori back to Konoha. Perhaps it was because she didn't think he deserved to die. Perhaps she wanted to kill him with her own hands. There were many reasons within her mind. She couldn't remember which one was her true reason for choosing to leave the village, but she would remember when she got there. She would remember when she saw Sasori's face.

"I need to..." Around hurried breaths of air, Sakura placed her hands on her belly, sending the soothing green light of shosen jutsu to appease the child. "...leave."

Lee stared confusedly at Sakura. _'Leave?'_ She was standing so far from the village proper. At this time of day, it wouldn't be surprising if she was taking a light stroll around Konoha, just for some exercise, but they were so far from the village that the training grounds were within view. "Where are you going, Sakura-san?" Lee's innocent voice was tinged with concern and the possibility of stopping her if she was planning anything dangerous.

"N-nowhere dangerous, Lee-san," Sakura said as she strained a smile through the pain eroding her body. Even though she knew that it was definitely dangerous, she wasn't telling Lee. If he knew, he would definitely stop her, and she knew it. _'Lee-san, gomen.'_ She didn't like lying to him. He was always nice to her, and this was probably the last time she would see him. _'I can't tell you the truth.'_ If she left Konoha without Tsunade's permission, she would be labelled a nukenin. _'Gomen.'_ But even with this being the last time she would see Lee, she still couldn't tell him. She couldn't jeopardise her chances of leaving Konoha. "Shinpanai."

She stumbled forwards. Running away from Sasuke had drained more of her strength than she had thought. But she would regain her strength on her own. She refused to stop. If she waited too long, Sasori would be in Suna before she even left Konoha. And she couldn't allow that to happen. She had to... She had to...

Sakura blinked, her body freezing at the thought. _'Save him? Rescue him? Kill him?'_ She couldn't quite see what her goal was.

But she would know when she saw him.

"Sakura-san!" Lee's shout drew her mind back to reality. "You're lying, aren't you?" The green-clad shinobi knew that she was lying. That beautiful face was marred by the burden of falsehood. "You don't have to go." Even though no one had told him anything, he knew what all the other shinobi of this village knew. Sasori was being transported back to Suna, even at that moment. "You—" Even though Sakura was carrying Sasori's child... "You don't have to save him!" She didn't need that horrible nukenin. "I'll be that child's father! I'll help you!"

_'So you don't have to love that horrible man!'_

"Thanks for the offer, Lee-san," Sakura said softly. Lee just didn't understand what was happening. He didn't know the real truth. He thought she loved Sasori, but... "I have to go." She wasn't really thinking about love, not at that moment, not after what Sasuke had said to her. At this moment, her heart was only a dead lump in her chest.

"Sakura-san!" Lee's hand shot out with superhuman speed, wrapping around Sakura's arm before she could run away. "I won't let you go!" Of all things, Sakura shouldn't travel long distances in her condition.

He was only thinking of her. He certainly wasn't trying to keep her away from Sasori. He certainly _wasn't_ trying to sabotage her love for another man.

Because Rock Lee wasn't capable of those things.

"It's too dangerous," Lee said, his grip tightening as her arm tensed. If she used her superhuman strength against him, he would have no way of defending himself. She would definitely defeat him. The only way to stop her was with his words. "You can't go, Sakura-san."

"Are you trying to stop me..." Slowly, her arm tugged against his fingers. "...Lee-san?"

The green-clad chuunin stared at Sakura for a moment, unsure of what to say. Would she be upset? Angry? Or would she be relieved? Happy that he cared? "Y-yes," he said shakily. No matter what she felt, he couldn't lie to her. He hadn't even considered lying to Sakura. There was only the concern that she would stress herself further. "Yes, I'm trying to stop you. Sakura-san, you can't—"

"Souka."

There were only the silent words before her fist flew up, slamming her arm out of Lee's grasp and into his torso, sending him flying into the air toward the Hokage monument.

She won't let anyone stop her.

**F**ear still coated Neji's body, even though he hadn't seen the Hokage for a few days. Protecting someone to that extent, even if it meant hurting that person... It made him shiver with fear. The Hokage was truly a terrifying woman. _'I should just try to forget it,'_ he thought to himself as he pushed the memory out of his head. Sakura had nothing to do with him. This entire business had nothing to do with him. He shouldn't concern himself with such stressful things.

Then, Lee fell from the sky, directly into his arms.

Neji frowned at his teammate as Lee tried to look innocent. "What are you doing, Lee?" He dropped the green-clad shinobi before he could grow comfortable. If he didn't let go of Lee, the chuunin would expect him to save him _every_ time he fell out of the sky. And lately, it has been happening quite frequently.

"Neji-kun!" The Hyuuga genius cringed at his teammate's voice. "Neji-kun, you have to stop her!" Lee's frantic voice spoke as shaking hands grabbed the jounin's shoulders.

_'Stop?'_ Neji whacked his teammate's hands away. He didn't want Lee to touch him. "Stop who?" Lee looked...as if he had lost all sense of himself.

"Sakura-san! Sakura-san has—" The green-clad chuunin's hands flew up, covering his mouth quickly. _'What am I doing?'_ Sakura didn't have the Hokage's permission to leave the village. If he told Neji that she had left, she would immediately become a nukenin. And Neji was merciless. He wouldn't let Sakura get away just because she was pregnant.

"She left the village." The jounin turned from Lee. He had suspected that she would do something like this. He needed to tell the Hokage immediately.

"No, Neji-kun!" Lee grabbed onto the jounin's shoulder before he could walk too far away. "You can't tell Hokage-sama!"

"She's a nukenin."

"She hasn't left the village yet! She's not a—"

"Lee!" Neji shouted, drawing the attention of several people around them. "She's gone!" Neji wrenched his body away and headed toward the Hokage tower. "If you care about her, you would try to bring her back, _before_ something happens." Because Sakura's body wasn't strong enough... Because she shouldn't be travelling in that condition... Because he knew what the Hokage knew about Sakura's child...

_Tsunade pulled two thin pieces of paper from the drawer. "I had permission from her parents. They knew about her imprisonment." Neji watched the Hokage's expression change from carefree to serious as she handed the papers to him. "Is that what you were worried about?"_

_Neji scanned over the papers. He didn't need to read everything. He already had an idea of what they were. So, what surprised him wasn't that Sakura's parents knew about everything. The fact that they knew eased the tension in his chest somewhat. No. What surprised him, what choked him with shock, was the other paper in his hand. "Are you going to tell her about this?" That medical report... He knew that she was much too round, too big for a woman who was only seven months pregnant. At seven months, Sakura's body should only be beginning to change shape._

_She should know about it!_

But the Hokage didn't want him going anywhere near her.

That medical report meant nothing to him, and after Tsunade's threat, he didn't want to tell Sakura about it. Telling the pink-haired medic-nin would mean angering the Hokage. And if he did that, he would be putting his life in danger. But he had changed his mind. At this point, with Lee's words still fresh in his head, he changed his mind. Which shinobi hadn't put his life in danger at some point in his career? Neji had done it more than a few times on his way to becoming a jounin. Besides, he wasn't just trying to bring Sakura back.

There were other lives on the line.

He couldn't just do nothing when he knew what would happen.

**A**s Sasori looked at the sleeping ANBU again, he wondered if they were truly sleeping, or just pretending to be asleep. Any normal member of the ANBU—in fact, any regular shinobi—would have woken long ago. He was supposed to be a dangerous criminal! That was why they were taking him back to Suna! Sasori just didn't understand how they could sleep so soundly.

Especially with Kakashi's killer intent saturating the air. He wasn't imagining it. It wasn't the thought that Kakashi might kill him. Even in full sunlight, the area around them was dark. Killing him was a definite fact. Sasori couldn't wait until they were further away from the village. Even though it would be better to be farther away, if he waited any longer, Kakashi would kill him. There was no better time than this, when the ANBU were asleep.

The Suna-nukenin had taken many risks to reach this moment. He had prepared for this moment in Sakura's home when he knew they could discover what he had been doing at any moment. Gathering ingredients... Extracting, purifying and mixing his poisons when no one noticed... But it didn't matter. It was all so he could kill Kakashi.

So he could kill him without interference. So he could counter anything that came his way. Everything.

Including this one.

As he flexed the muscles on his back, he felt the barrier containing his chakra loosen. He only had to wait a little while longer. Those seals would soon become useless. He knew that Kakashi knew he knew they were useless. That was why Kakashi couldn't sleep. It could happen at any moment. He would regain the use of his chakra.

The Hokage had tried to supress his chakra when he first arrived in the village. One of the reasons she stopped watching him was because these seals neutralized on their own. They were ineffective for long periods of time. And he had been wearing these same seals for a month. Escaping wouldn't be difficult. Not with...

Sasori's fingers dug into the side of his leg, tearing pass the painfully thin fake skin.

_The soft breathing from the other side of the room told him that Sakura was still asleep. But knowing this was even more of a reason to not scream in pain. He had run out of painkillers long ago, and Sakura didn't have many drugs in the house. They were too close to the hospital to carry large quantities of medical supplies. If they needed anything, they could just walk to the hospital. But Sasori couldn't go. This endeavour had to be kept a secret, otherwise there was no point in doing it at all._

_'Kuso.' He stared at the bloody mess he had made of his leg. He had wanted to tear open a different place, somewhere that didn't have so much difficult muscle, but his human body had too many vital points. Anywhere else would have killed him._

_As for his arms, they were too thin to hide anything. Besides, he had no desire to tear off an arm in the middle of the night, not to attach a new appendage. He was suffering enough just putting two small scrolls in his leg._

_Sasori sealed his mouth with his teeth as he pulled the bandage tightly over the shallow wound. He just didn't possess the endurance to cut any deeper. It was enough for what he wanted to hide there, and that was enough for now. At least no one would notice the wound, not if he covered it thoroughly. Not if he hid it beneath his clothes._

It was only a precaution, in case something happened. In case something like _this_ happened. As his hand pulled the tool out of his bleeding leg, he revelled in the thought of Kakashi's expression...

...when he killed him.

**T**sunade looked worriedly at the morning gently covering the village. Usually, she would be at home, asleep at this time, or working frantically on something important for the latest S-ranked mission, or for the damiyo. But this morning, her thoughts kept wandering. She couldn't tear away the feeling that something was wrong, even though the village looked peaceful.

Lee falling out of the sky was a normal sight. He had been training too hard lately, probably because of Sakura. She didn't know what he did that threw him from the training grounds to the village, but at least, it was soothing his emotional pain, soothing the heartbreak Sakura had forced unknowingly on him.

"Hokage-sama!" Neji had shouted, expecting the kunoichi to be sleeping at her desk. Tsunade often slept at her desk. The workload of a Hokage only grew larger, never smaller. "Wake u—" But as the Hyuuga jounin walked into the office, he saw Godaime at the window, and almost dropped Lee.

"Neji?" Tsunade had turned to see who was shouting so early in the morning. If she was asleep, she would have woken and thrown something at him by now. "Why are you carrying Lee?" The jounin had the chuunin slung over one shoulder.

"..." Neji tried to suppress the irritation rising in his chest. _'Sakura punched him. If he could walk on his own, Lee has trained far too much.'_ But this wasn't about him or what he was doing with his teammate. "A shinobi has left Konoha without preauthorization."

The moment that hung silently after those blunt words weighed heavily in the room as the sudden realization of what Neji had said hit Tsunade in the chest, knocking the air from her lungs. "S-Sakura!" She knew immediately that it couldn't be anyone else. Sakura was the only one who would leave the village, who had a reason to leave the village. "If she left, then bring her back, Neji," Tsunade said sternly. "What are you doing here?" He should have brought her back, instead of coming to the Hokage tower. "Do you know what condition Sakura's in!"

Then, Orochimaru disappeared from the room.

**End Chapter 28**

---------------------------

Fire's English tidbits for those who care:

Following the tradition of English tidbits, I'm going to talk about relative pronouns. But what else am I going to talk about in this section? Anyway, relative pronouns introduce a subordinate clause (ie. a fragment) and are used as a subject or object of that clause. So words like "who", "that", and "which" are relative pronouns. The problem is knowing whether it's plural or singular. For example, "Naruto didn't know what to do with the empty ramen boxes that were in the kitchen." The instinct is to put "was" instead of "were" but the relative pronoun (that) refers to boxes, so the verb should be plural. Another example is, "Kisame is one of the seven swordsmen of Kirigakure who wield fearsome power." Wield is plural because the relative pronoun (who) is referring to swordsmen, a plural noun, and not Kisame. However, "Kisame is the only one of the seven swordsmen of Kirigakure who wields such fearsome power," where the verb "wields" is singular, would have a different meaning. In this sentence, the relative pronoun (who) is referring to Kisame, and not swordsmen, so the verb is singular. Kisame is the only one wielding fearsome power. Hope that was enlightening.

Fire's babbling:

Sasori: Next time, I kill Kakash―

Fire: He's not _that_ easy to kill.

Sakura: You're not killing Kakashi-sensei!

Naruto: Um...what happened to me?

Lee: Neji-kun, why did you have to tell her?

Neji: I was only doing my job. She's trying to flee Konoha.

Lee: Don't worry, Sakura-san! I'll protect you!

Sakura: Uh...thanks, Lee-san. --;;

Sasuke: Don't worry. I'll rescue Naruto from that damned nukenin.

Deidara: I'm standing right here, yeah.

Sasuke: I'm _still_ going to kill you.

Fire: Um...review?

Naruto: Itachi, will you really buy me ramen?

Itachi: (stares at Naruto) Maybe.

Naruto: Will you buy some for me now?

Itachi: ...

Sasuke: Don't touch my dobe! (grabs Naruto away)

Fire: Um...review and tell me what you think. I appreciate any and all kinds of feedback. And if any of you want me to write a last book, please tell me, otherwise it'll just sit in one of my hard drives for my own tweaking pleasure.

Sasuke: Fire's insane.

Fire: I'm not insane! It'll just be used as material for my other stories.

Sasuke: In other words, cannibalism.

Zetsu: We're eating?

Fire: The word you're searching for is _salvaging_.

Zetsu: (disappointed) We're not eating?

Fire: Um, no. We're ending this chapter. Ja! (waves furiously)


	30. 29: Thunder in the Sky, in the Trees

Fire: (sighs) I want to sleep.

Sasuke: Fire was coercing Sasori to explain his poison for everyone.

Sasori: I did it, didn't I?

Fire: But it's so complicated! (hugs Kisame) All I want to do is sleep.

Kisame: ...

Naruto: Ano-sa! Ano-sa! What happened to me? What? What?

Deidara: We extract the Kyuubi from your body and you die.

Naruto: Uso! I can't die!

Sakura: You need to update this glossary. --;;

Fire: Waah! I _do _need to do that!

Sasori: Today, I kill Kakashi!

Tobi: Today, I kill Sasori!

Sasori: (glares at Tobi) You're killing whom?

Tobi: Uh... (shivers with fear) Um...nothing. (holds out the reviews) Reviews! I meant reviews!

Fire: (looks at the reviews) Hm...there will definitely be more words than Harry Potter, EasilyAmusedReader-san. --;; And are you counting that with or without the author's notes? Which Harry Potter book is that? There was a really, _really_ long one too. And I know about that cliff-hanger. You'll understand as soon as you read this chapter.

Itachi: I can touch who I want to touch. (grabs Naruto)

Naruto: O.O;;;

Sasuke: What part of MY DOBE don't you understand!

Itachi: (pulls Naruto away before Sasuke can grab him back) ...

Naruto: Can I have ramen?

Itachi: (heads toward Ichiraku Ramen) ...

Sasuke: Don't ignore me! (runs after Itachi and Naruto)

Fire: Um...Tobi, Teges-san wants to know where you are.

Tobi: I'm following Sasori's trail. --;; I thought that was obvious.

Fire: Me too. (looks at the next review) Midterms? But I thought exams were over, Soda-san. --;; Don't you have exams in December? Or is it different in the States?

Deidara: I think we should address _this_ pressing matter, yeah. (hands Fire a review)

Fire: Waah! Rikki-san! That happened at the beginning of the story! It was in chapter five and chapter six! Sasuke just didn't remember it. (sighs) I thought it was obvious. And Audrey-san, you're up to date! Now I can talk to you! Yay! (throws confetti)

Kisame: Just finish talking already.

Fire: Ahem. Yes, Audrey-san. I'm referring to something else, not her pregnancy. The condition she's in is slightly different from her pregnancy. I'm not sure if anyone has noticed that Sakura has become really big in the last two months. She couldn't even balance properly when she walked out of the Hokage tower! That just doesn't happen to pregnant women. --;; And it's true that she shouldn't be so round. At six months, in normal pregnancies, the belly should be beginning to round. Um, if anyone is wondering, at this point in the story, the fetus is seven months old. And don't worry about the toxicology report. I'm posting it in sections.

Zetsu: You're talking too much.

Fire: Waah! I know! The chapters are really short! I just don't want the chapters to be draggy. Anyway, this is a short chapter, so I'm sorry about it. (sniff) I've been really worn out recently and TOBI STILL HASN'T HAD A LONG FIGHT SCENE IN THE MANGA! Choreographing his fights is getting really difficult. Masashi-sensei! Do something about that!

Tobi: --;; I'll just give you the next chapter now. (cuts and pastes chapter 29 onto the screen)

---------------------------

**Chapter 29: Thunder in the Sky, Thunder in the Trees**

_**'D**o you still remember_ _the times when I fell in the past? There were so many times when I fell while trying to catch up to you. Do you still remember the hands I held out, straining to touch you? My fingers still hurt when I uncurl them. With a voice hoarse from calling your name, I still shouted, trying to draw your attention to me. And for the brief moment that I saw your happiness reflecting from your face, I had no other desire in this world other than to protect it. So I climbed the jagged peaks to heaven, leaving behind my memories, cutting through these thick hands so that I could remain by your side. Even though I knew all this time that the reflection in your eyes, the hands you longed to hold, and the voice you longed to hear, were not mine.'_

**K**akashi threw himself backwards, skidding away before wiping the streak of blood from his face. In front of him, the Orochimaru puppet clicked ominously. Somehow, Sasori had managed to summon it. Even though they had searched the Suna-nin thoroughly for weapons and scrolls, he must have been hiding a summoning scroll somewhere! The redhead definitely didn't have a contract with puppets. Something like that didn't exist!

The grey-haired jounin breathed deeply, suffocating the pounding of his heart deafening his ears. _'Kuso,'_ he growled inwardly as he looked from the Sannin puppet to the puppemaster. It should have been a simple mission, but with Orochimaru here, Tsunade was definitely going to punish them. She would be even more unhappy if they failed their mission.

"You think you can defeat me?" Slowly, Kakashi regained his composure.

"You're making Sakura sad." Sasori smirked superciliously. He knew exactly what to say to plant doubt in the grey-haired jounin's mind. "She doesn't love_ you_." The words sounded with all the implied possibility that Sakura truly loved Sasori.

"She doesn't love you either," Kakashi said calmly. Sasori was trying to find an opening. In a high level fight, the winner was determined by whoever made the first mistake, and who took advantage of that mistake. Kakashi was determined not to make that first mistake.

"You know nothing!" Sasori's arm wrenched to the side, drenching kunai across the ground.

_'Senei jyashu?'_ Kakashi leapt back as a wave of snakes flew pass his head, narrowly missing his covered nose. He had focussed too much on Sasori. He had almost forgotten that he had two opponents. Orochimaru could have killed him!

Dying definitely wouldn't make Sakura happy.

_'Think!_' The grey-haired jounin thought frantically as he pushed himself to the side, escaping a flying kunai before it could hit him. _'I have to stop that puppet. Somehow!'_ His hand shot out, grabbing the Sannin's arm before he could launch another attack. And before Sasori could think of anything to counter it, Kakashi jammed a shuriken into Orochimaru's elbow, tearing through wood and bone, and embedding itself deeply into the joint.

The Sannin flew back as if it could feel pain. A puppet hand covered the clogged joint. Frustrated clicking filled the silent air, but the arm wasn't moving.

Sasori's face contorted irritatedly. Kakashi wasn't stupid. He would have figured it out eventually.

But that was why he had back up plans.

Kakashi stared confusedly at the puppetmaster. He had severely handicapped the Sannin puppet, but the Suna-nin's face had already recomposed itself. _'What—'_ Then he remembered. _'No!'_ Kakashi turned...

...but the ANBU were already incapacitated.

**T**sunade noticed as soon as it was gone. Her hand shot up, stopping Neji before he could speak further. Her eyes turned from the Hyuuga jounin to the chair where Orochimaru was sitting a moment ago. But the puppet was gone. Just as she had suspected.

"Neji," she said as she turned back to the jounin once more.

But he already knew what she was going to say. "I'll leave immediately." The Hokage wanted him to bring Sakura back. And to do that, he had to go where he knew she would be. To do that, he had to go where Sakura was.

And he would probably have to bring back that Orochmaru puppet as well.

**S**lowly, the bodies of the ANBU rose from the ground, but as Kakashi moved to defend, Sasori grinned sadistically. "You wouldn't want to attack your friends, Kakashi." And as the jounin's expression changed—just enough to let Sasori know that he would do it, because his friends wouldn't want to kill him when they knew he had a chance to survive—Sasori spoke again. "They're not dead."

The words struck Kakashi as his eyes watched the bodies rise unnaturally from the ground. _'I shouldn't believe him.'_ He had no reason to believe anything that Sasori said was the truth. But if they were alive... If they were _actually_ alive, he would be hurting them! _'Kuso.'_ He couldn't act recklessly

But Sasori had no reason to hold back. The living puppets launched forward with kunai pointing at the grey-haired jounin. The puppetmaster couldn't use their techniques, since they were hitokugutsu, but he still had the advantage. Kakashi wouldn't hurt one of his nakama.

"You can't hurt me!" Sasori shouted as he threw a living puppet at the Konoha jounin, smashing the ANBU carelessly against a tree as Kaakshi propelled himself away. "Weakling!" The redhead's eyes darted through the trees, searching for a sign of grey hair. At the end of his chakra strings, his ANBU puppets bleed, battered through his disregard for their safety. But he didn't need to keep them save. They weren't _his_ teammates.

If it brought Kakashi into the open, Sasori wouldn't hesitate to hurt them. _'Sasori, kuso yarou!'_ Kakashi knew that Sasori wouldn't hesitate to hurt them. But he couldn't just walk out. He couldn't just let Sasori kill him!

"Kakashi!"

The grey-haired jounin leapt back as two arms cut through the trees, snapping at his arm for a moment before he pulled his body away. _'Yuugao!'_ Her eyes were open, and she had managed to warn him. The ANBU-nin was awake, but she couldn't move her body. Not as long as Sasori was controlling her.

He needed to cut those chakra strings. But he couldn't think of a way to do it without hurting the ANBU puppets! His only option was to neutralize Sasori. There was only Sasori to target. He had to find a way to do it without hurting those puppets!

_'Ayatsuito no jutsu!'_

Sasori walked forward, his hand pulling a poison-coated kunai from his summoning scroll. At that moment, he knew that he was stronger than Kakashi. At that moment, he was sure that Kakashi would die.

Then his body flew backwards. His eyes flew down, locking on the coils of thin wire restraining his arms and legs as his back latched tightly against a tree. He could still move his fingers, but they weren't nearly enough to move the puppets. _'This won't hold me!'_ His shoulder blades swung down, snapping through the restraints. As the jounin advanced, the wires fell to the ground. Sasori was already gone.

Kakashi turned quickly, his gloved hand rising in time to catch an ANBU puppet's kick. _'Where?'_ He threw the puppet to the side, but as he looked around all he could see were more puppets. _'Where did he go?'_ He couldn't see Sasori anywhere!

"Here!" Sasori shouted as his fist rammed into Kakashi's back, sending him tearing across the ground.

The air caught in Kakashi's throat, choking him as he tried to cough the excess blood from his mouth. He wiped the curtain of red blood coating the side of his face, and flicked it away. The rest of the ANBU looked equally as haggard. He had to be careful, or he could end up killing them too.

If he wanted to stop Sasori, he needed to be fast enough to by pass all the puppets and catch him. He had to do it! So he had no other choice. He only had one technique that could do it.

_'Raikiri!'_

**S**creeching filled the air, but even through the din, the sound of fighting not far ahead drew his attention. Sasori was close. Tobi knew that he was close. And as a kunai flew past him, landing by his feet, he knew that he was right. This time, he was definitely going to kill Sasori. He wasn't going to let him get away!

Tobi ran forwards, his eyes locking on the Suna-nin as soon as he saw him. His hands reached for his kunai pouch, drawing a shuriken before he realized that Kakashi was there. "Sasori!" He launched the shuriken at the nukenin.

But missed and hit Kakashi instead. The fistful of lightning swung in a wide arc, slashing across the trees, missing Sasori completely. It was a fatal mistake. Sasori's leg thrust into Kakashi's chest, shooting him across the air into the sharp branches overhead. After another moment, Kakashi fell to the ground with a bloody thud.

"Hn," Sasori frowned to himself. He had wanted to kill him, but he overreacted and allowed Kakashi to escape. Even though it was a close fight, he could have won if only he... It was too late to regret his actions now. He had other chances, even though he admitted that he had wanted an easier battle. If only Kakashi would allow him to kill him...

"Sasori!" Tobi shouted, pulling the Suna-nin out of his thoughts. "I'm going to—!"

"Tobi?" Sasori finally noticed the Akatsuki subordinate. "So _you_ were the one who helped me."

"Urusai! I'm going to—"

"Arigatou," Sasori said as he patted Tobi on the head before turning away, pulling the Sannin puppet with him. He didn't have time to talk to Tobi. He had to return to Konoha. And _thank_ Tsunade for trying to kill him. Not that it would be much of a thank you. _'But first, I should slice off that damned jounin's head.'_

Tobi looked desperately at the Suna-nin. He had searched all over Konoha for the Suna-nukenin, and he was just going to walk away? "Sa—"

"Sasori!" The angry voice shouted over the Akatsuki subordinate's words. "Teme!" Sasori's face turned toward the familiar pink-haired girl wheezing at the edge of the trees. "You..." She shook with fury as her eyes bore into the scene before her. "I knew you were still working with Akatsuki!"

**D**eidara waved a hand in front of Naruto's face, but there was no reaction. "What did you do to him, yeah?" He wanted to know. He wanted to know what it was that the Kusa-nin did to his jinchuuriki. What did he do to stop the incessant whining about ramen?

"..." But Zetsu wasn't going to tell him. "Let's bring him back." He stressed the words, as if Deidara had any other intention other than bringing the jinchuuriki back.

"I knew it was you!"

When the two nukenin looked back, the jinchuuriki was gone.

"Naruto! Naruto, say something!" Sasuke shouted as he placed the summoning down. But the blond shinobi's face was expressionless. "Naruto!"

"That won't work," Zetsu said as he sank into the ground. "They're supposed to be tools. **Why are you talking to a weapon!"** And the Kusa-nin reappeared behind Sasuke.

"Kuso!" Sasuke's leg flew toward the nukenin before he leapt back, but the Akatsuki spy flew out of the way before he could kick him. "What did you do to Naruto?!"

Zetsu stared at the chuunin as if the dark-haired shinobi was stupid. "He's a summoning. How else do I stop a summoning from vanishing?"

_'He...'_ Sasuke stared disbelievingly at the Akatsuki spy. _'He put a fuda in Naruto's head!'_

"A weakling like you probably didn't know how to do it. **You should thank me!"** Zetsu leapt forward, his hand reaching for the jinchuuriki. He wasn't going to allow Sasuke to take the Kyuubi back, not after they finally had him in their hands.

_'Naruto,'_ Sasuke sighed as he turned to the blond shinobi, but no matter how long he waited, Naruto didn't turn to him, didn't say anything to him. _'It's true.'_ Anger filled the dark-haired shinobi's body. "Omae!" He was too late. He had tried to save Naruto, but he was too late. He was always too late. Again, he was useless.

He wasn't going to let any of them get away.

**T**he dark sky overhead rumbled furiously, as if hurrying Neji ahead. Behind him, he heard the ghostly voice of the Hokage telling him to run faster. He had to run faster! But with Lee hanging over his shoulder, he couldn't run fast enough. "Lee, can you walk now?" He had tried to leave his teammate behind, but when it came to Sakura, Lee refused to stay in Konoha and wait.

The chuunin tried to move his legs, but the pain that shot through them was still too strong. "Just a little while longer, Neji-kun," the green-clad chuunin said apologetically.

_'A little while longer...'_ Neji turned white eyes toward the sky once again. A little while longer could mean the difference between a dead and a live body.

And as an explosion sent smoke surging against them, he knew that he had to hurry.

**End Chapter 29**

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Fire's English tidbits for those who care:

Today, let's talk about comparing different degrees of something. The three kinds of words used for comparisons are positive, comparative and superlative words. An example is bad, worse and worst. It sounds simple but I find a lot of mistakes like "Between Sasuke and Naruto, Sakura liked Sasuke the best." It looks like there's nothing wrong with this sentence, but using the superlative to compare two shinobi is incorrect. There are only two degrees. That's "good" and "better." There isn't a third degree for "best." So the correct sentence should have been "Between Sasuke and Naruto, Sakura liked Sasuke better." If there were three degrees, three different comparisons, then the sentence could have been "Among Sasuke, Naruto and Kakashi, Sakura liked Sasuke the best." I hope that made sense. --;;

-----

**Toxicology Report on Sasori's Poison: Plant Poisons**

Fire: --;;

Sasori: (smiling like an idiot) ...

Fire: Without Sasori's help, it's impossible to explain this, so not all of it will be a part of Tsunade's medical report.

Sasuke: We'll list out what was used and where Sasori used them, as well as whether or not Tsunade knows about this, and if she doesn't, why.

Fire: Anyway, the explanation is long, so I'm going to split it into several parts. First the plant poisons. ;; I'm going to just tell you what's in the poison, exactly what it does, how it does it, then explain the complete effect of the poison altogether with Tsunade's "does she know about this or not" part in the summary.

-----

A simple explanation of what a poison is, is that it's a substance that is harmful to living beings, either animal or human. Poisons are broken into several categories. First there are the natural poisons: plant poisons, animal poisons, mineral poisons and viral poisons. Then, there are the synthetic poisons: sucrose/glucose poisons, science enhanced poisons, synthetic microbial poisons and mimic poisons.

First, the plant poisons. These are the ones most easily accessible to Sasori, especially with Konoha's rich plant life. The Forest of Death is a great area for gathering both plant and animal poisons, but simple, non-offlimits areas around Konoha also contain plants capable of yielding poison.

For different plants, different parts hold poisonous substances. In the list of ingredients, some of them are roots. Specifically, Sasori used young roots from the Aconite plant, also known as Monkshood. It is a flowering plant and can be found on lower mountain slopes. So Sasori could have found them at the base of the Hokage monument or in any of the canyons surrounding Konoha. When the liquid is extracted and distilled, the result is a solution containing Aconitines, Benzaconine and Aconine. The Japanese variety also contains Japaconitine, a type of Aconitine. These are highly toxic alkaloids which directly affect the muscles, including the heart. Just the raw juice, not even distilled or concentrated, will cause muscular pain and inhibit movement. If concentrated, it can kill through asphixiation with only a few millilitres. But for Sasori's purposes, he used moderate concentrations to immobilize his opponents and torture them.

Another root would be the water hemlock—otherwise known as dokuninjin, a classic shinobi poison—specifically the Yellow Water Dropwort, which grows on or near the banks of rivers. So while gathering the Aconite roots, Sasori could have also gathered a few more of these roots, but the stems also contain poison. Small quantities of over 7 ml can kill a person. Smaller doses will cause great agony, sickness, and convulsions. Sasori used it for the potential pain it can cause, and the side effect it has on the human body. It paralyses the organs for speech. In other words, even though the victim is in pain, he can't scream or call for help.

The last plant to uproot is the Gelsemium, a tapering plant that grows near rivers. Its roots contain Gelsiminine and Gelsimine, two toxic alkaloids that directly target the brain and spinal cord. They are powerful spinal depressants that work on the medulla oblongata, the section of the brain in charge of—among other things—respiration. Even small doses of the alkaloids extracted from the Gelsemium root will slow breathing, eventually resulting in respiratory failure with the heart stopping almost simutaneously. Sasori uses this poison because the victim remains conscious, so they can enjoy the last moments before death. Other effects are drops in temperature, cold and clammy skin, rapid but feeble pulse, complete muscular weakness—including the face, so the victim can't even blink—and double vision. The effects can begin almost immediately.

Next are seeds. The herb Stavesacre, a form of Larkspur, grows in any soil. The seeds contain Delphinine, Delphisine and Delphinoidine—cardiac glycosides that directly affect the heart and muscles—as well as traces of staphisagroine and staphisagrine. Sasori would have powdered the seeds and created a suspension with the extracted oils. The result is a solution that paralyses the motor nerves—the staphisagrine does this—and slows the pulse and respiration. The Delphinine paralyses the spinal cord resulting in death from asphixia.

More easily accessible seeds are peach pits. When ground, they yield cyanogenic glycosides which release cyanide when introduced into acidic environments. Blood is slightly acidic. The reaction is slow, but it's still cyanide. Sasori could have also used apple seeds, but he doesn't have the patience to grind _that_ many apple seeds. Or peace pits either, so he has other sources of cyanogenic glycosides. The bamboo groves near Konoha yeilds at least 300 mg of cyanide per new leaf.

For those who don't know what cyanide does, it inhibits the enzymes in mitochondria—an organelle within cells that produce energy—and prevents the production of ATP, a molecule necessary to produce energy during aerobic respiration. The areas mostly affected are the central nervous system—the spinal cord and brain—and the heart, which depend mainly on aerobic respiration. The result is initial loss of energy, weakness of the muscles, then asphixiation.

Next in gathering plant poisons are the leaves used in Sasori's creation, in addition to the bamboo leaves already collected. The leaves of any of the Hellbore plants contain cardiac poisons, directly affecting the heart. More specifically, the False Hellbore contains Adonidin, an incredibly strong glucoside that attacks the cardiovascular system, leading to cardiac arrest. In other words, it gives the victim a heartattack.

Then, there is the last plant that was added for the pure purpose of torturing his victims. The resin collected from the stem of the Spergularia—which grows anywhere, so he could probably pick it up at the roadside—is a potent irritant and caustic poison that is acrid enough to burn skin, so Sasori would have to use a puppet to collect it. Sasori specifically chose this solution to further increase the wounds inflicted by his kunai, in order to more quickly spread the other poisons. Although its ability to torture his opponent is high—burning through skin as well as irritating anything it touches—Sasori never intended to use it to kill anyone. But if it did, he wouldn't be opposed to it.

To summarize, the plant poisons used by Sasori affect five key areas: the muscles to inhibit movement, the heart, the brain, the organs, the spine and the skin. These areas are distributed among seven different specific plants found in Konoha. Most of them are inhumanly painful and the victim suffers greatly before dying.

But if Sasori left it at this, it wouldn't be an unusual poison, or an exceptional poison worthy of his name, poisonmaster. For the poison to become as cruel as Tsunade said it was, there are the other components added to this mixture which make removing any of these poisons from the victim's body impossible.

-----

Fire: --;; Too much?

Sasuke: I think you've confused the readers.

Fire: Waah! Are you confused! Tell me if you are!

Sasori: I think I used more plant poison than that.

Fire: Waah! You did?

Sasuke: Stop screaming, you're hurting my ears.

Fire: --;; I probably forgot a few plant poisons. I'll add them to the next installment of this toxicology report next chapter.

-----

Fire's Babbling:

Fire: Waah! (tightly hugging Kisame for comfort) The chapter is too short!

Kisame: Then write more.

Fire: But I can't! I already used up all the material for this chapter! (sighs) Everyone had their roles and their parts already. If I added anything else, the next chapter wouldn't make sense.

Sasuke: There's another fight scene in the next chapter, so we can't merge the two chapters. Too much fighting, not enough time to make sense of it all.

Naruto: I'm a puppet again? (glares at Fire) Why? You said that you'd bring me back!

Fire: (cringes and hides behind Kisame) ...

Itachi: (stares at Naruto) ...

Naruto: Teme! (shouts at Sasuke) You did it on purpose!

Sasuke: I'm the co-writer. I don't make decisions like that.

Itachi: Have some ramen. (hands a cup ramen to Naruto to calm him down)

Naruto: Ramen! (grabs the ramen)

Sasuke: Didn't you just come back from Ichiraku?

Itachi: ...

Naruto: (happily eating the ramen) ...

Fire: (sniffs) Tell me if this chapter made sense. And did the plant poison explanation make sense? I understand that not everyone understands everything about poisons. Only crazy people—

Sasori: Are you calling me crazy?

Fire: Um...only...um...

Sakura: Crazy is the right word. Just use crazy.

Fire: Only crazy people like Sasori... (cringes) ...um...know in depth about poisons, so I tried not to say too much about what it does, like exactly what part of aerobic respiration the poison affects. --;; Too much science for a fanfic, right?

Sasuke: Just send us a review and tell us everything that went through your mind as you read this. And don't tell us that it's too short. Fire already knows that.

Fire: And Tobi has served his purpose. (smiles) You saved Sasori! Yay!

Tobi: Wasn't I supposed to kill him?

Fire: It's called irony.

Tobi: ...

Fire: We can kill him now! Next time, I'm going to—

Tobi: You can't kill me, Fire-sama!

Fire: (stares at Tobi) But _someone_ has to die!

Tobi: (looks at Sasori) ...

Sasori: (looks at Deidara) ...

Deidara: (looks at Naruto) ...

Naruto: (eats his ramen) ...

Fire: Anyway, ja! I'll see you all next chapter!

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	31. Thirty: Red Clay, Red Fire

Fire: (bows) Sorry for the delay. I had to take Sand to the doctor's office and it took up over half the day. (sighs)

Sasuke: The doctor called and said it was urgent.

Fire: If the doctor calls _you_ for an appointment, you know it's important! Anyway, no details. Sand doesn't want people to know about it. --;; So, here's the next chapter. Back to the normal length, okay? I won't have another short chapter like that again!

Tobi: Are you going to kill me today?

Fire: Um...maybe.

Sasori: Are you going to kill me?

Sasuke: Stop asking stupid questions.

Naruto: I thought you were going to bring me back!

Fire: I will! Ahem. Um...EasilyAmusedReader-san, the apples aren't poisoned. Just don't eat too many seeds. You'll end up killing yourself.

Yuugao: Are we dead?

Fire: Um, no. And―

Sakura: Why do I have to suffer so much?

Fire: Can you all stop talking? I'm trying to reply to these reviews. --;;

Itachi: (grabs Naruto and runs) ...

Naruto: O.o;;; Can't you just tell me when you want to buy me ramen?

Sasuke: Naruto! (runs after Itachi)

Fire: Anyway, Audrey-san, he used other plant poisons in addition to those two because there are antidotes for hemlock and monkshood. I don't think you knew that, but they're pretty simple antidotes too. --;; Anyway, that's why he has the animal poisons. You know why he had the animal poisons paired with plant poisons when I explain everything in the third installment of the toxicology report. Anyway, animal poisons are very difficult to get since extremely poisonous animals tend to be aggressive. That's why Sasori's poison was so simple to neutralize in the manga. They're probably all plant poisons. Those are the easiest to find and the easiest to gather and extract.

Sasori: Are you talking about poison without me?

Fire: I'm finished with the poison.

Sasori: ...

Fire: Yakitori-san, Tobi's target isn't Sakura, it's Sasori. Sasori won't need to save Sakura from Tobi because Tobi has no reason to attack her. On the other hand, she would probably have to save Sasori from Tobi. --;;

Sakura: Shannaro! I knew it!

Sasori: But she's a weak woman!

Sakura: I'm stronger than you!

Sasori: Yeah, right.

Fire: And Rikki-san, I'll put Kakashi back in the storyline, but he won't arrive until the next chapter. Gomen nasai. And she already rejected him. Putting them together at the end is really difficult.

Deidara: She likes the really old men... (looks at Sasori) ...or the really young ones. (looks at Sasuke)

Sasuke: I'm younger than Sakura by a few months. I'm not _really _young. --;;

Fire: Um...well, I think that's all the reviews.

Tobi: If I pull up the chapter really quickly, can you not kill me?

Fire: No. If you pull it too quickly, no one will be able to read it. --;; Just do you job as usual, Tobi.

Tobi: (disappointedly) Hai. (pulls up chapter 30)

---------------------------

**Chapter 30: Red Clay, Red Fire**

_**'S**mile. That's what I keep telling myself. What you see is only this smile. I told myself that you would see it soon, this pain tearing through my heart, breaking through my sanity until even heaven becomes hell. If you care about me, you would see it. Can you hear the tears the fall? They cry for the memories we once had. To come to this place where you can be happy, we discarded the past. Now my chest is hollow. Although I continue to protect that happiness which I cannot give you, you refuse to say kind words to me, if only to ease the sorrow soaking my body. Is it enough that the dead should hold more warmth than my living hands? Is it enough that the unmoving can speak warmer words than my loving voice? For you, I know that it's enough. So, I can only smile. Like a puppet for your love. Can you tell? It's a smile of happiness.'_

**W**hen Sakura saw Sasori, her first thought was _'It's true!'_ She had suspected it for a long time. For the month she was imprisoned with in the Hokage tower, she had called for him. She had waited for him to rescue her. But he didn't come. She always wondered why he didn't come, especially when she knew he could hear her. She had worried over it. She had thought that something had happened to him, that he was hurt. But when she finally saw him, he was well. He wasn't injured. He wasn't tired. He even joked enough to ask her to kill Kakashi for him. "Sasori!" There was no other conclusion than this. Her eyes refused to turn away from the masked nukenin by Sasori's side. "I knew it!" The red clouds... That black cloak was the unmistakeable cloak of Akatsuki! "You were still working with Akatsuki!" Fury erupted across her body, forcing chakra through her body. "Sasori!" Fire vibrated across her arms, legs, entire body as she surged forward.

Her eyes throbbed angrily, beating furiously as they stared unblinking at the puppetmaster's face. Her hand moved back slowly, pulling the warmth of fresh blood with it. The black kunai remained embedded in the redhead's torso.

"Sakura," Sasori said as he pulled the kunai painfully from his stomach. _'Why are you so angry?'_

"Don't say my name, shannaro!" Her arm flew around, smashing against the side of his face, sending him skidding across the ground to the base of a tree.

"Ah..." Tobi stared, unsure of what to do. "You can't kill him!" He shouted the first thing that came to mind. Sasori was _his_ opponent. This girl couldn't kill him!

Sakura turned, glaring derangedly at the subordinate. Tobi staggered back beneath the pressure of complete fury. "I can do what I want," she growled, her fists clenching tight enough to tear skin. "Are you..." Purple chakra fumed from her body. "...saying otherwise?" Slowly, the Gaia seal spread, marking black patterns across her face.

"Um..." Tobi's entire body shook, and he couldn't find the strength to speak against her. Such tainted chakra... He had never felt chakra like this before! "N-n-n-" Even around the most powerful of Akatsuki, there was never such tremendous... "No." ...weight.

Dark purple chakra lashed at Tobi as the pink-haired girl turned toward Sasori. He couldn't force even a tiny sound out of his mouth as the Konoha-nin stopped in front of the redhead. He knew that she was going to hurt Sasori, that she would kill him, and he _still_ couldn't make himself stop her!

"Sakura, I'm not—"

"Don't lie to me!" Blood coated the sides of her fists. The skin had ruptured beneath the force of her anger. From the corners of her eyes, she saw them. The ANBU lay in a bloody pile to one side. Kakashi lay on the other side. "You..." Even though she had come to stop them, he _had_ to escape before she arrived. He had to make her feel useless! "Nothing you say will change my mind!" Her fist smacked against the side of Sasori's head. The Suna-nin staggered, but refused to fall. Sakura wasn't using her full strength. Even though the cursed seal was slowly unlocking, breaking through Kakashi's fuuja houin, she was trying to suppress it.

"I knew it. A weak woman like you can kill me." Sasori strained a smile, knowing that he still had the upper hand, even though his stomach was torn open, even though his clothes were already soaked red with blood.

Even though he could barely stand with this much pain saturating his body.

"No," Sakura said as she shook the blood from her fists with a single swift swing. _'Nothing like that.'_ She just couldn't hurt the child. If she had used her full strength, Sasori wouldn't be standing, but she had promised that she would give the baby to Sasuke. So, she had to protect it. _'If I hit him with my full strength...'_ ...the resulting shockwave from the impact would travel through her body.

And be absorbed by the fetus. It would die.

"Sakura!" Sasori's shout startled her back to reality as his arms wrapped around her, covering the pink-haired medic-nin completely. For a confused moment, Sakura considered punching off the Suna-nin's head. That was the moment before the dull thud, the expression of excruciating pain on Sasori's face, the gush of blood flowing onto her clothes...

...and the voice of two nukenin at the edge of the trees.

**D**eidara didn't know how it happened, but he was fighting Sasuke. And Zetsu was gone. As soon as fire came out of Sasuke's direction, the Kusa-nin vanished. He didn't really expect a plant to fight fire. _'But he should give me more warning, yeah!'_ Deidara threw himself back as fire sprayed across the ground.

_'At least Zetsu no aitsu brought me a clay pouch, yeah.'_

Sakura had kept him from making any clay, and he had _tried _not to blow anything up, but it was too difficult. Even though he hid it under the guise of training, the few trees he destroyed was enough to keep him from going insane. But he had wanted to kill something moving. There was no satisfaction in killing trees. But even so, he had used up all his clay.

_'Katon: housenka no jutsu!'_

The light of multiple flames caught Deidara's attention. As he turned to avoid them, the Iwa-nukenin threw his hand up, launching an unmolded ball of clay at the Uchiha. It flew forwards, catching the fire and hauling it back at the dark-haired chuunin.

But Sasuke wasn't going be defeated so quickly. He shunshin-ed to Naruto's side, grabbing the blond shinobi before the fire shuriken could hit the trees. _'Kuso.'_ He stared at the disheartening blank expression on Naruto's face as he pulled him away. It was difficult to fight when he knew they could accidentally hurt Naruto.

_'Bakuhatsu!'_

Fire rained, carried by the explosion of the clay fireball. Flames raced across the treetops, trapping the three shinobi in a circle of malevolent red-orange light.

"Chikusho, Naruto!" Sasuke shouted amongst the roar of fire overhead. "Wake up!" He shook the jinchuuriki, sending violent tremours through his body, but at the end, Naruto's head only fell to one side, staring with expressionless eyes.

"Shouting so loudly, yeah?" Deidara said, almost disbelievingly. They were ignoring him. "Underestimating me?" They had forgotten that he was there!

But not for long.

When Sasuke looked up again, he was surrounded. The ground was covered with kumogata nendo. The sky was filled with torigata nendo.

**E**ven though he had wanted to escape while they forgot about him, Tobi couldn't stop himself from watching. At first, he had thought that Sakura would kill him, but suddenly, the fight had boiled down to an ordinary argument. But even in the midst of this distraction, he saw it coming. From the corner of his eye, he saw the three bladed scythe fly stealthily through the air. Tobi jumped out of its way, but it kept flying...

...toward Sakura.

"Sakura!" Sasori had seen it. Behind the pink-haired girl, that deceptively stealthy movement caught his attention. He didn't realize that he was protecting her.

"Sasori," Hidan said acridly as he stopped nearby. Unfortunately, Tobi had run away. "You go in my way!"

"I was in _your _way?" Sasori glared at the nukenin. "Go away before I kill you!" His shoulder blades had tossed the scythe away beofre it could hit him. He was still bleeding from Sakura's wound, but even in this state, he could kill Hidan.

At least, he could do it if it was still in his puppet body.

"Hn." Hidan turned away as the memory of being beaten and poisoned filled his mind. Sasori didn't kill him, but it hurt like hell! And there wasn't a doubt that Sasori had figured out his weakness by now. "I don't have business with you anyway." He had no desire to fight Sasori. The Sasori he remembered was stronger than he was, and he needed to kill Tobi. "Ja, Sasori-sama." He didn't have time to waste on digesting poison.

"But Hidan," Kakuzu said as he tried to remind his partner that Sasori was no longer a part of Akatsuki. But Hidan wasn't listening, and he knew it. The large nukenin sighed inwardly as he walked after the irritated nukenin. When Hidan finally discovers the mistake he had made, they would return anyway.

"I knew it," Sakura said as she threw Sasori to the side. "You lied about not being with Akatsuki!" His words confirmed it!

Sasori blinked. He didn't know what Sakura was talking about. He was... _'Shimatta.'_ He had forgotten that he wasn't in Akatsuki anymore! That line... Talking like that... Especially to Hidan... He hadn't done something like that for over a year. Those natural words just came out. "It was a reflex!" He tried to convince Sakura.

"A reflex? Like I'd believe that!"

"But it's tr—"

An explosion cut through their conversation, sending fire and burning leaves raining from the sky.

Sakura turned in the direction of the blast. _'Sa—"_ Immediately, she knew that he near near it. _'Sasuke-kun!'_ The fangirl senses she had developed through ten years of devotion knew immediately that Sasuke was in danger. "Sasuke-kun!" She didn't have time to argue with Sasori. Sasuke was in danger!

She had to save him!

**E**xcept for the bleeding ANBU and Kakashi lying to one side, the clearing was vacant. Vibrant red stained the crimson grass, depicting a fight recently finished. But there were no dead bodies. The byakugan retracted into Neji's face as he ran forwards. He had thought it would be a simple retrieval, but it was a lot more complicated now. He should have brought a medic-nin. "Lee," he said as he placed his teammate on the ground. "Can you run now?"

"Of course, Neji-kun!" In fact, he has had the ability to move his legs freely for a while. "I'll go back to Konoha and bring—"

"Medic-nin." Neji interrupted the green-clad chuunin before he could decide what to do. Reinforcements? More shinobi would only increase the number of casualties. Ahead, he had seen Sasuke and Deidara fighting. Sakura and Sasori were moving close to that location, even at that moment. If even these ANBU and Kakashi—who was considered a genius—were incapacitated... He couldn't let anyone else get involved! "Bring back medic-nin. And tell Hokage sama." For a situation like this, he wasn't qualified to make all the decisions. If Tsunade decided to send reinforcements...

He doubted she would.

"Ikimasu!" Lee launched himself forwards, running as fast as he could back to Konoha.

_'Then I'll have to stop them.'_ Neji ran after Sakura. In her unstable state, anything could happen. And the Hokage would definitely blame him for it.

**T**hey were everywhere. Kibaku nendo was everywhere. Behind him. In front of him. Above him. And probably below him as well. There was no escape. Sasuke gripped Naruto tightly in his arms. For the first time since he brought the blond shinobi back, he was able to do it without Naruto disappearing. But it was an empty embrace. The jinchuuriki could no longer move of his own free will. "Naruto..." He would rather have Naruto explode at his touch than see the blond look at him with such a cold emotionless gaze.

_'Sakura fubuki no jutsu!'_

Deidara deflected the kunai flying at him, but as he smashed them away, explosive notes burst from the pouches attacked at the end. They clung to him for a moment before...

There wasn't even a need for a final activating note. As soon as the embers from the trees touched the explosive notes, they exploded, igniting the Iwa-nin's body.

In that distracted moment, Sasuke pulled Naruto to safety, and escaped.

"Deidara, kuso gaki!" Sasori grabbed the burning nukenin with an angry hand, lifting him by the shin. He couldn't even find the words to voice his anger.

"Sasori," Deidara shuddered as blood filled his mouth, "sama..." Slowly, red oozed from the sides of his lips. _'You're supposed be on the way to Suna.'_ Sasori was in the way!

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura's glowing hands searched over the dark-haired shinobi's body, scanning for injuries. "D-d-daijoubu?" Her eyes glared at Deidara, even as her words spoke kindly to Sasuke. As soon as she knew that the Uchiha wasn't injured, her hands rose, turning to their target. "Deidara!" She shouted as her fist rammed across the Iwa-nukenin's head. "Shannaro!" Sasuke wasn't injured, but his body was cold, as if he had died again. Even without touching the Naruto puppet, she knew that it was the cause. It wasn't the same Naruto that she had seen in Konoha. The energetic shinobi that had called her fact wasn't this puppet. The Naruto that she knew, that she remembered from long ago, wasn't this emotionless summoning. "..." But she couldn't ask him what he had done. _'What did you do to them?'_ Her body could only shake with hesitation. _'What did you do to Naruto?'_ Inside, she hesitated. She didn't really want to know that something this small could hurt Sasuke more than anything she did.

More than hurting the last hope of the Uchiha clan.

But Deidara wasn't going to wait for them to being their interrogation. The kumogata nendo and the torigata nendo were still there, even if they had froze for a moment. As he pulled himself out of Sasori's grip, the kibaku nendo swarmed over Sasori.

_'Sayonara, Sasori-sama!'_ He grabbed the blond jinchuuriki as multiple explosions burst across the redhead's body.

"Naruto!" Sasuke grabbed the jinchuuriki's arm as he smashed his fist against the Iwa-nukenin's hand. He wasn't letting Naruto go. Even though they couldn't return to the way it was before... Even though he couldn't talk to Naruto and expect simple words and laughter in response... He couldn't let Akatsuki take him! He couldn't let them kill him! "Let go," Sasuke commanded as red spread across his black eyes.

"Sasori!" Sakura's shout drew Sasuke's attention for a second, long enough for Deidara to smack him away. The dark-haired shinobi flew into the flames overhead and vanished. "Sasuke-kun!"

Sakura couldn't stop staring at the trees where Sasuke had vanished, but she couldn't help him. "Get away from him!" Tobi was standing in her way. And Sasori was in danger.

"Finally, Sasori-sama," Tobi said as he lifted the dripping red nukenin from the bloodstained ground. _'Finally, you're going to die.'_ He had thought about running away, but even if he escaped, Akatsuki would find him. His goal was to kill Sasori. After that, he could convince the organization not to kill him. After that, he would have a small chance... Actually, they would still kill him. He knew that. But after killing Sasori, he wouldn't have to regret letting him get away.

"Baka!" Sakura grabbed the masked nukenin by the arm and threw him to the ground. Still in Tobi's hands, Sasori landed with equal impact. "I said let go of him!" She stomped on his hands until they released Sasori. By then, the bones were completely crushed. "And you!" Sakura shouted as she turned to Deidara again. "Stop being an idiot!" She smacked Deidara...

...but the Iwa-nin caught her wrist before it could hit. "It was life or death, ye—"

"Urusai!" Sakura pulled her arm out of Deidara's grasp. "Ungrateful bastard!" She had believe that he was telling the truth. Sasori had believe that Deidara was telling the truth when he said he was no longer with Akatsuki. So they allowed him to stay in Konoha, had helped him, even though Tsunade didn't trust him. "You should choose death before betraying the people who believe in you!" Her leg flew up, smashing against his torso and throwing him against a protruding root.

Sakura's body shuddered at the force of the kick. She laid green hands on her belly in an attempt to calm the agitated child.

"I knew Deidara was too weak to do it," Hidan said as he leapt down from above. The jinchuuriki stood unmoving in the middle of the clearing. The fire roared above them. Sasori lay in a bloody pile near Tobi. And there was only one girl left to oppose him. _'Even with the cursed seal leaking chakra into her body, she can't defeat me.'_

"..." Kakuzu pulled Sasori and Tobi from the ground without a word. A mission accomplished without a fight... _'If only the bounties were this easy to accomplish...'_

"Don't touch Naruto!" Sakura shouted as Hidan reached for the blond shinobi. "If you try to take anyone, I'll kill you!"

But Hidan didn't stop. "Hn. Kill me?" The nukenin glanced at Sakura with a supercilious smirk. "_If_ you can do it."

"Shannaro!" Sakura shouted as purple chakra engulfed her. "I said STOP!"

**T**sunade jumped as the door slammed open and a green blur stopped in front of her desk. "H-Hokage-sama!" He shouted through his exasperated breath. "U-urgent!" The blond woman stared at the chuunin and could only wait while he rambled through a hurried explanation. "Neji-kun said we need medic-nin! But! Reinforcements! No reinforcements!" He gulped air between each word, as if a single syllable used up all the air within him, but somehow, he managed to go through every important detail.

"Shizune!" Tsunade shouted as soon as she heard the words _Akatsuki_ and _Deidara's a traitor_. "Gather the medical teams, and..." She wanted to gather reinforcements but... _'Neji's right. The casualties will only rise.'_ "...find Jiraiya!" The only person she knew was strong enough to face Akatsuki and survive would be Jiraiya.

If only it was easier to find him...

**End Chapter 30**

---------------------------

Fire's English tidbits for those who care:

Here is something that pops up every now and then: ambiguous references. An ambiguous reference is when the reader can't tell which noun the pronoun represents. For example, "When Orochimaru and Jiraiya came to convince her to go with one or the other, she didn't listen to his words and returned to Konoha." "His words" can refer to both Orochimaru and Jiraiya's arguments. If the reader is someone who didn't watched or read that part of the series yet, the meaning would be too vague. Rewritten in a better way would be, "When Orochimaru and Jiraiya came to convince her to go with one or the other, she didn't listen to Orochimaru's words and returned to Konoha," or it can be written as "When her former teammates came to convince her to go with one or the other, she didn't listen to Orochimaru and returned to Konoha," to avoid the repetition of Orochimaru's name.

---------------------------

**Toxicology Report on Sasori's Poison: Animal Poisons and Scientifically Enhanced Poisons**

Fire: (pulling up a piece of paper) I forgot to put this in the last installment of the Toxicology Report, so I'll be putting it up here. Um...a warning. Read it if you want.

Sasuke: Are you saying that something like this might get us thrown off the site?

Sasori: There's no rule about poisons on the site.

Fire: But it's weird content. Anyway, I'm putting it up anyway. Today, we're talking about animal poisons. There isn't much to say about that, so I'll be coupling it with scientifically enhanced poisons

Sasuke: Another boring explanation? I'm going to look for Naruto. (walks away)

Fire: Um...please tell us if anything is confusing. I know that not everyone understands all the scientific stuff, so I'll be explaining it in as clear a way as possible.

-----

Warning: Contains scientific content. If your brain shuts down at the mere thought of science, please avoid the toxicology reports. There will be information about toxins found in everyday life, so if you _really_ don't want to know how a carrot is bad for you, don't read. (Can you tell that this warning was meant for the last report?)

-----

The second type of poison that Sasori used were animal poisons. Animal poisons are chemical compounds or enzymes taken from poisonous animals or non-poisonous animals whose secretions are poisonous when eaten or touched. For example, toads aren't poisonous animals, but their skin secrets toxins that are poisonous if touched.

The most important of the animal poisons used by Sasori are the snake poisons. There are many snakes in the Forest of Death, and finding a poisonous snake isn't difficult. The main enzymes used were proteases, phospholipidases, and hyaluronidases. A snake's poison contains all three of these basic enzymes. All other enzymes are additional bonuses that Sasori didn't worry about. They weren't a part of the poison's equation.

To explain for those who haven't reached Grade 11 biology yet, enzymes are strings of peptides, some in the form of proteins. They break down specific complicated molecules. Proteases break down protein. Phospholipidases break down phospholipids. They don't affect anything else.

First, the proteases. Simply put, protein would be muscle. So, proteases break down muscle. This is important, especially if the muscular plant poisons have degraded and are no longer as effective. Proteases will create necrosis, beginning with the area around the would. Necrosis is when the cells begin dying. While plant poisons may inhibit muscle movement, an antidote could nullify its effects. With the muscles dead, revival is impossible. If the victim manages to live through it, the muscles can be grown back with protein supplements, but that doesn't help if he dies.

Second, there are the phospholipidases. Phospholipids are fats, which doesn't seem important in a poison but the cells that make up the human body have a cell membrane that holds it together. These cell membranes are composed of phospholipids, ie. fats. Phospholipidases directly attack the cells around the affected area. This includes muscles and capillaries. In other words, the cells are completely destroyed, or liquefied.

The most important of these three enzymes would be the hyaluronidases. They break down the cell-cell junctions, the areas around the cells, and help spread the poison. In addition to spreading the animal poisons, hyaluronidase will also spread the plant poisons present in this mixture.

These three enzymes work on mobility. They inhibit movement and begin digesting the victim. But there are other parts of snake poison present. Another important part of using animal poisons are the neurotoxins present.

There are six major types of neurotoxins, each affecting a different part of the brain. As for snake poisons, they affect the brain as alpha-neurotoxins. Alpha-neurotoxins attack acetylcholine receptors at the nerves and muscles. The result is inhibited movement.

For a more detailed explanation, Acetylcholine is a neurotransmitter―a compound released by the brain―that binds to the receptor, making the cell membrane more permeable to cations. In other words, it allows positively charged ions to pass into the cell. The result is local depolarization. The local depolarization spreads across the receptor until it becomes an action potential. The result is muscular contraction when enough receptors give the same signal. If Acetylcholine is inhibited by the alpha-neurotoxins which prevent achetylcholine from binding to their receptors, the result is the inability to create these action potentials―ie. Nerve impulses―and the muscles can't contract. So, no movement.

The purpose for animal poisons in Sasori's poison was to inhibit movement and keep his victim from fighting back or running away. In addition to that, being digested alive is extremely painful and helps to spread the poisons faster through the body.

Scientifically enhanced poisons are naturals poisons that have been altered to increase their lethal abilities. One way is to compound dangerous elements with other dangerous elements, like Nicotine Sulphate. Nicotine, a systemic poison―attacks from within the body―is treated with sulphur compounds―a corrosive element. The result is Nicotine Sulphate which works as both a systemic and a contact poison. In other words, it destroys the human body whether you eat it or just touch it.

However, there is nowhere in Konoha for Sasori to get sulphur, even if nicotine is a common substance. He can distill it from cigarettes. That only allows Sasori to concentrate the poisons to desired degrees. Although it doesn't really count as scientifically enhancing the poison, by concentrating the extracted poisons, the composition of the poison is more difficult to understand. A millilitre of hydrocyanic acid isn't the same in different concentrations. A 10 molar concentration of hydrocyanic acid will release more cyanide within a human body than a 1 molar concentration. The ratios are different. When Sasori, Sakura or Tsunade talk about the ingredients in a poison so they can create an antidote, the specific amount of each ingredient wouldn't be measured in simple millilitres or grams. They're talking about specific compounds, enzymes, proteins and the concentrations of these substances within a given amount of poison.

-----

Fire: --;; Like I said, short. Anyway, more explanations next week.

Sasuke: Finally! You're finished!

Sasori: Interesting...

Fire: Why are are you saying that? You're the one who told me all this stuff.

Sasori: --;; I'm leaving now.

Fire: Well, tell me if anything is too complicated. I'll go over it and try to make it more comprehensible.

-----

Fire's babbling:

Fire: (sighs) I wanted to end the climax at this chapter...

Sasuke: ...but it's long.

Fire: So in the next chapter, there will be a fight over who gets to kill Tobi! (happy smile)

Tobi: That's nothing to fight over. --;;

Sasuke: I thought the fight was over whether they take Naruto away or not.

Naruto: Yeah!

Fire: Um, it is! But it's also about who gets to kill Tobi.

Sakura: I'm going to fight?

Fire: Yes. There's no one left to fight.

Neji: ...

Lee: ...

Tsunade: ...

Jiraiya: I'm hard to find because I'm always hiding.

Fire: And we all know why you're hiding. Anyway, tell me about whether the toxicology report is―

Sasuke: You already said that.

Fire: Really? Um...then review and tell me what you thought about the chapter. Was it too long? Too short? Can you feel that this is the climax of the story, or is there not enough tension? Are the characters OOC? What did you like? What did you not like? Did I miss anything when I proofread it? I don' t have a beta―

Sasuke: Hey! I'm your co-writer! I beta your work!

Fire: --;; That doesn't count, Sasuke. Essentially, you're a muse that lives in my head.

Sasuke: I resent that! I'm going on strike! (leaves)

Fire: --;; He'll be back. He always comes back. Anyway, see you all next week. Unless you thought the chapter was too annoying and decided not to read on, then sayonara!

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	32. Thirty one: When Rain Falls

Naruto: No! Sasuke! Don't die!

Sasuke: --;; What is it now?

Naruto: (pointing at the previous chapter) You flew into the flames!

Fire: (sighs) Are you reading that _now_?

Naruto: Waah! Sasuke!

Tobi: (sadly holding onto the Big Bag of Reviews) Your reviews, Fire-sama.

Fire: Yay! (grabs the reviews) Um, I'm glad that most of you have realized that the baby is going to die. I've foreshadowed it for several chapters now, so I was beginning to think it was too subtle. Sorry, Audrey-san. I know that you didn't want anything bad to happen to the baby.

Sakura: Too subtle?

Fire: But remember that my stories have no unneeded elements. That means that the baby serves a purpose. Find out what it is later this chapter.

Sakura: You're evil.

Fire: Really?

Kakuzu: Is there a bounty on your head?

Fire: Um...no. --;;

Sakura: Actually, EasilyAmusedReader-san, it's 3.5 Akatsuki members, not 2.5. Did you count Orochimaru? Sasori killed him, but at the time, he was my summoning, so it counts as my victory, not his.

Fire: Can I say something now?

Hidan: Talk.

Fire: --;; If you've been reading the recent chapters of the manga, please consider that I wrote this story long before these chapters came out. I mean, I started this fanfic series before chapter 285 came out, over a year ago! Um...that was before Gaara was rescued from Akatsuki. So, since it seems that Hidan is dead―

Hidan: I'm immortal. I don't die.

Fire: --;; Um...according to the latest chapter of the manga, chapter 339, it seems that Hidan has been...um...permanently occupied by the Nara clan, I'll put in a few paragraphs to explain how he's still around for my series.

Kakuzu: And what about me?

Fire: (cries hopelessly on Kisame's shoulder) This is hopeless! Masashi-sensei wants to kill them too! And I don't want to make an AU! I hate AUs!

Kisame: Take it as you managed to avoid death by shielding your last heart. --;;

Kakuzu: ...

Fire: Waah!

Hidan: Fire, Masashi managed to publish my death before you.

Fire: Pixel! If only you didn't break down, I'd have uploaded this chapter long ago! (cursing the computer)

Sasuke: A biology or a chemistry major? (holds in a laugh)

Fire: --;; Actually, my friends thought that was too scary so I decided not to go into the Faculty of Science. I'm just one of those people that know a little bit about everything, EasilyAmusedReader-san. --;; Seriously, Wikipedia doesn't have _any_ information on poison. I wanted to write a few paragraphs for them, but it was difficult enough editing their work. (sighs) I have books for things like poisons. It's always good to have non-digital references.

Tobi: Teges-san! Why do you want me to die!

Fire: --;; You're annoying.

Tobi: ...

Sasuke: Definitely a good enough reason to die!

Sakura: No! Nothing ties me to Sasuke-kun? (freaking out)

Sasuke: But what about the Uchiha clan? I'm not letting _anything _happen to that baby!

Fire: Um...Yakitori-san, with ten years of history, nothing that happens will ever cut the ties that bind Sakura, Sasuke and Naruto together. --;; Gomen nasai. I thought it was obvious in the main part of the Naruto series. Masashi-sensei makes them go through a lot too, and their bonds are still strong!

Sasori: Are you saying I don't stand a chance?

Fire: Um...

Sasori: (glaring at Fire) ...

Fire: Tobi! The next chapter!

Naruto: (shouts as Tobi rolls chapter 31 onto the screen) Sasuke! Don't die!

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Spoiler Alert: I haven't written one of these for a while, so I don't want you to forget. THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS CONTENT FROM THE MOST RECENT CHAPTERS. READ UP TO CHAPTER 339 THEN READ THIS STORY. In fact, it might be best if you wait until chapter 340. --;; That might take another week, but at least you won't see too many spoilers. In case you're wondering, I _don't_ have access to Masashi-sensei's drafts, but as a writer―and one that has been writing for over ten years―I can see through his storyline. Sorry, Masashi-sensei, but your storyline is a little predictable. I can probably predict up to the next five chapters right now. --;; It depends on the circumstance though. Anyway, don't say I didn't warn you.

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Disclaimer: If you've forgotten, here is another reminder. The verb "to shunshin" and all conjugations belong to Fire no Kumo. The verb was derived from "shunshin" from "shunshin no jutsu," meaning to use shunshin no jutsu to move to another place. If you have no idea what shunshin no jutsu is, please read and watch the Naruto manga/anime again, or ask for a definition. I'll send it to you via email or PM.

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Warning: If you're under 15, please don't read this chapter. In fact, you shouldn't be reading this series! I already warned you at the beginning of this book. If you're under 15 and still plan to read this story, this is my warning that THERE WILL BE VIOLENCE, GORE AND DIFFICULT TO READ SCENES in this chapter. If you have a vivid imagination and don't want to be riddled with nightmares, please heed my warning. And I wouldn't count it as a teary moment at the end of this chapter, but it's a sad scene. The next chapter will be a tear-jerker so buy tissues for chapter 32.

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**Chapter 31: When Rain Falls**

_**'T**he world has turned upside down, and we are standing on the ceiling. But I knew I couldn't stay forever. Clinging to the clouds with tired human feet while hiding behind a smile for you, while I hid the truth from you...I've already fallen. I'm falling toward the sky above. These hands that had touched me gently are not capable of salvation. The fingers that cut unstoppably through human lives will only kill me sooner. Stop gazing up at me with such desperate eyes, with this useless gaze at mortality, and smile for me...because your smile gives me hope...even if it's futile. Smile for me and give me courage. When I fall from Heaven, from the place where I was by your side, I will only be thinking of you. When your face is obscured by the wind, my eyes will still see clearly, as if you were by my side. And when the trees in the sky cradle my fallen body, I will feel your warm arms, arms that can no longer burn me.'_

**N**o one had ever scared Hidan before. He was invulnerable; there was no reason to fear anyone. Even if they cut off his head, he would die. But this girl and this dense chakra scared him. Or excited him. He wasn't sure which. For the first time, there was the possibility of an _interesting _fight. The idea of capturing Tobi and Sasori without a fight wasn't satisfying.

But before he could reach for his scythe, the pink-haired medic-nin had already thrown him through the air. He flew for a moment, glaring at the girl. While he was thinking, she had run forwards fast enough to make the first move. But he wasn't going to be caught unprepared. Hidan twisted his scythe around and rammed it into the ground, tearing across the hard soil before stopping completely.

"Heh." Hidan's eyes moved from the ground, looking up at Sakura. "Can't punch?" Without hurting herself, this girl couldn't win against him!

Sakura leapt back as the three-bladed scythe flew at her. _'If I get hit...'_ She caught the weapon's spine as it arched toward her. _'I can't get hit!'_ Her hands tightened their grip before she pulled the scythe from the nukenin's hands. _'I can't!'_

But Hidan wasn't letting go of his weapon so easily. Using the medic-nin's strength, he propelled himself at her. "Kuso kunoichi!" Even if he had to tear her apart with his bare hands, he would offer her to Jashin-sama!

Then, Sakura was flying backwards. Hidan's hand had closed tightly around her neck, thrusting her back. She couldn't get away. She could only close her eyes tightly and anticipate the moment her body crashed against the trees behind her. Even the purple chakra cutting through the nukenin's arms weren't helping.

"Sh-shannaro," Sakura uttered around the hand crushing her throat. Within her, the chakra she had held behind Fuuja Houin burned. She couldn't hold it back, not when her body shouted for the strength to defeat this man. The cursed seal's chakra was growing. Already it leaked from her body.

She couldn't hold it back.

**L**ee ran to all the bath houses, but he couldn't bring himself to walk anywhere near the women's bath. Gai-sensei's words of decency and righteousness was too strong. He couldn't do it! _'But Hokage-sama wanted to bring Jiraiya-sama on this mission.'_ He sighed defeatedly. He couldn't help Sakura if he couldn't find the Sannin!

"Ah! Anko-san!" Lee shouted as he saw the tokubetsu jounin walk by the bath house. "Can you help me?" Anko was a woman. It wouldn't be wrong for her to walk by the women's open air bath.

"Jiraiya-sama?" Anko said as soon as the chuunin was finished explaining his request. She really didn't want to know that a Sannin was sitting outside one of the bathhouses with a telescope... "Daijoubu! I'll find him for you." ...but she couldn't just allow him to continue spying unchecked.

It took a few minutes, almost half an hour, but she found him.

"Lee-san, take care of him, okay?" She smiled before continuing toward the dango shop.

"Uh...y-yes, Anko-san," Lee said as he stared at the bloody mass. Anko had found him, but she had also punched him to the point of unconsciousness. Jiraiya couldn't go on the mission in this state.

He had to think of what to say to the Hokage.

**K**akuzu was just sitting and watching. There was no reason for him to interfere. "You're an idiot," the Taki-nin said, not once turning to Sasori but the words were nonetheless for the Suna-nin. "If you had only returned, we wouldn't have to kill you."

"Since when did you care?" Sasori tried not to worry too much about Sakura, even though his body shook with anxiety. She must have been calling for him. Her thoughts must be louder than his own inner voice. But he couldn't hear her. He hadn't been able to hear her for a long time. _'Sakura, are you calling for me?'_ He didn't even know if she needed his help.

"Your bounty..."

Sasori stared.

"...is worth nothing." The only reason he was capturing Sasori was because the leader wanted him eliminated. "Capturing you is a waste of time." The bounty stations retracted Sasori's bounty when they discovered he was dead. Besides, after dragging in that puppet body, the bounty station wasn't going to pay him _again_.

_'Worth nothing?'_

The sound of cracking bones filled the air, seeping between Sasori and Kakuzu's conversation. "Don't touch her!" Hidan's pained shout staggered across the small clearing before the two shinobi turned to see who had...

"Sa-Sasuke-kun!"

In the thin rain filling the warm air, the dark-haired shinobi threw the flames from his body as his red eyes glared at the nukenin. Burnt skin marred his body but he wasn't going to let anyone touch his child. "Sakura..." The pink-haired girl stared, unsure of what to think. She had seen Sasuke thrown into the fire above them. "Stand back."

Hidan glared around the pain colouring his vision, enough to see an irritating Itachi-lookalike standing as if nothing had happened. But he had crushed his arm! "Bakayarou!" If they had cut it off, Hidan could reattach it, but if they crushed it... "I'm ripping off your damned limbs!" Hidan's arm flew up, winding the rope around his wrist before pulling the scythe into his hand.

"Hn." Sasuke pushed himself away from the three blades, pulling out a kunai as the nukenin turned in his direction once more. _'Chidori nagashi!'_

In the moment that Sasuke's kunai caught Hidan's scythe, lightning rushed across the dark-haired shinobi's body. In that moment, chidori's blue tentacles leapt across the kunai, through the three blades and into Hidan's body. The screech of a thousand birds cut through the nukenin's torso, sending him flying back.

Hidan held his numb arm as he skidded across the ground to a stop. He couldn't feel anything. He couldn't hear anything. His eyes could barely see! It was truly like being struck by a bolt of lightning. "Kuso," he growled beneath his breath as he spat out the blood that had welled into his mouth. If he had stayed connected to that lightning current for a little longer, he would have had a heart attack! On top of that...

The nukenin threw the worthlessly crumbling handle away.

...this shinobi had destroyed his scythe.

"Don't expect any mercy," Sasuke said as the lightning faded from his body.

"I should say that to you!" Hidan lunged at Sasuke, his hands flying forward with a broken scythe blade clutched between his fingers. All he needed was a little blood. Then, he would offer this worthless shinobi to Jashin-sama!

"Hidan," Kakuzu said as he took the piece of metal from his partner's hand. Their mission was to capture the jinchuuriki, and retrieve Tobi and Sasori. They had all three people. Hidan had already lost control of himself. If he allowed the nukenin to rampage, they could lose the jinchuuriki.

Kakuzu wasn't going to allow that to happen.

"We should leave."

"Who said you can leave?" Sasuke turned to Kakuzu. If he allowed them to escape now, they would only return for Naruto. He hadn't met these two before, but he had heard plenty about them. They were definitely dangerous.

_As Sasuke looked over his report again before he handed it in to the current chief of the Keimu Butai, he heard their voices, constantly talking. He couldn't avoid them. "Did you hear? That guy escaped!" Sasuke tried to ignore it and concentrate on his work. "The Nara clan are looking all over the forest for him." _

_The dark-haired shinobi's ears automatically tuned into the conversation at the name "Nara." _

"_How did he get out? He was buried in such a deep hole." And beneath so much rock and soil._

_The officer shrugged. "Dug himself out? He has been there for a while."_

"_We need to—"_

"_It's horrible!" The doors to the station threw open and a shinobi ran in. "Hidan and Kakuzu have been sighted at the gates of Konoha!"_

_And silence filled the room. _

Sasuke's red eyes burned the image of the two nukenin into his mind. These two should be dead, but somehow, they were still standing there, in front of him. If he wanted to protect Naruto, he had to kill these two!

**H**is limbs ached, but he still managed to sit up. If the kunai were poisoned, he would have died. He knew that much. Luckily, Sasori was careless. The Suna-nin had thought that he would never use those weapons, so he didn't prepare poisoned kunai ahead of time. "Yuugao," Kakashi said as he turned to the ANBU lying nearby. The purple-haired shinobi was sprawled face down on the ground.

"I'm okay." The woman spoke even though she couldn't move her body. "I don't think it's life-threatening." Sasori had thought ahead of time. Instead of poisoning his kunai, he had coated them with tranquilizers, knowing that he would have a greater advantage fighting with living puppets than with corpses. "What about the others?"

Kakashi checked the bodies of the other ANBU before shouting, "Their vitals are shallow, but they're alive!"

"Y-yokata." The silence that followed was filled with the sound of fighting, and the roar of burning trees. "Kakashi..."

"I need to recapture Sasori."

"..." Yuugao didn't even know why she was suggesting he leave and go after Sasori. The grey-haired shinobi already understood.

Their mission was too important to leave unfinished.

**S**akura didn't know what was wrong with her body. She had told herself so many times that she would become stronger. She would protect them. She would protect Sasuke, and Naruto, and Kakashi, and Konoha, and everyone! Because she was tired of being useless. But she couldn't even make herself move. She couldn't even help Sasuke. Now! When he needed it!

Sasuke had never faced these two members of Akatsuki. He didn't know how powerful they were, how difficult it was defeating them the first time. Now that they were back, it seemed even more hopeless. It was as if Hidan was never buried, as if they had never destroyed any of Kakuzu's hearts.

And she couldn't even bring herself to tell him. Her voice refused to come out, no matter how she pushed. Just the sight of these two nukenin shook her body to the point of breaking. _'Someone...'_ She couldn't do anything to protect him. Sasuke was standing in front of these two monsters, and she couldn't protect him. _'Someone help him.'_ She didn't want Sasuke to die. _'Sasori!'_

_'Sakura?'_ Sasori pushed himself to his shaky feet at the command. _'I can hear her?'_ He pulled the summoning scroll from his sleeves, throwing Orochimaru forwards.

The puppet's teeth tore across his thumb, slashing a line of red blood across the tattoo on his left arm as he crashed into Hidan, throwing the nukenin away from Kakuzu. For a moment, the Sannin puppet sat on Hidan's torso, clicking as his hands pressed against his chest. _'Kuchiyose no jutsu!'_

Hidan screamed as a giant snake appeared on top of his body. His chest caved in, suffocating him.

"What are you doing?" Sasuke glared at Sasori. One moment, he was prepared to fight the two nukenin coming after Naruto, the next moment, he was in Sasori's arms, being dragged across the clearing. "Aho! Protect Naruto! Not me!" He pushed Sasori away in time to see Kakuzu grab the jinchuuriki. "Naruto!"

"Get a hold of yourself, Hidan. We're leaving."

"Naruto!"

Sakura grabbed Kakuzu, quickly, before he could shunshin away. _'You're not leaving with Naruto!'_ She was stronger now. She would protect Naruto and Sasuke. She refused to let anyone hurt them again! "Go away!"

She hadn't realized it. It was a reflex. So many times, she only reached forwards. So many times, her fists flew before she realized she was punching someone.

This time, her hands had hit him, had sent the Taki-nin flying... She had seen him fade into the sky before the regret sank in. Before the force of her punch crashed through her body.

"Naruto!" Even as she fell to the ground, Sasuke was still running to the summoning. "Naruto!" He was looking all over the jinchuuriki's body for any sign of a wound or blemish, even though the blond shinobi hadn't participated in any fighting.

"Sakura, are you—"

"Leave me alone, Sasori!" Sakura snapped, even though the Suna-nin wasn't the one irritating her. But as she looked up, her weary mind stared. Behind Sasori, Tobi had risen again. _'Of course he wouldn't stay down.'_ Sasori had managed to stand up in his condition, Tobi—who wasn't nearly as injured—should still be able to fight! _'Sasori!'_

She tried to shout, to warn him, but she had already used up so much chakra, so much strength. The cursed seal was already retracting into her body. She couldn't keep using it. It would destroy her body. It would destroy the child growing within her.

_'Sasori!'_ She pushed the redhead out of the way as Tobi's kunai fell, tearing through Sakura's chest. In that moment, she understood that she would die. Already, she felt the air leaving her body. And she didn't have enough chakra to heal herself. She only had the strength to reach forward and crush Tobi's hand before falling to the ground.

"Sakura!" Sasori hadn't understood what she was doing. Pushing him? Was she playing at a time like this? But as the Suna-nin turned, the pink-haired girl collapsed to the ground with her hand still crushing Tobi's arm. "Tobi!"

"She got in my way! She deserved it!" Tobi shouted, trying to justify himself.

"I'll—"

"Tobi," Deidara said as he appeared beside the nukenin. "Did you know how annoying you were?" He placed a torigata nendo on the masked nukenin's shoulder. "I've really wanted to do this to you, yeah!" He stepped away as the bird exploded, completely annihilating Tobi's arm.

Tobi screamed, clutching his shoulder where his arm was not too long ago. "Kuso! I knew you were a traitor!" He didn't understand. The traitor was right here, and Akatsuki was hunting _him_!

"There's no rule against killing your partner, yeah," Deidara said as he pulled more clay from his pouch.

But before Deidara could kill Tobi, Sakura's voice whispered from the ground, "No." Both Deidara and Sasori stopped, unsure of what Sakura meant. "No!" Her hands clutched her head, her nails digging into her skull in an attempt to silence the voices. _'Urusai!'_ The voices of the dead still hovered around her, taunting her. She couldn't rid herself of the guilt of murdering all those people...for the sake of killing Orochimaru. "Go away!"

"Sakura!" Sasori shouted as he tried to reach for her, but the purple chakra that burst from her body snapped at his hands, threatening to tear them off if he neared.

"Leave me alone!"

_'Sakura has completely lost control!'_ Sasori leapt back as Sakura reached for him, but she missed. Catching Hidan instead, she tore his head from his body.

"Decapitated again?" Hidan couldn't understand why so many people liked to tear his head off.

"Kuso! Deidara!" Sasori shouted, warning the Iwa-nin as the pink-haired girl's kunai tore across the blond nukenin's arm. Deidara shunshin-ed back, out of the range of the medic-nin's mindless attacks. She couldn't see anything but the ghosts. To her, everyone was an enemy.

Then, she punched through Tobi's chest, tearing out the last of his breath.

The agony of multiple senbon slicing through her body brought her mind back to reality. For a moment. She felt the baby turn irritatedly, as if to say, "Hn. Some mother you are! Are you trying to kill me?"

"Don't touch Naruto!" Sasuke shouted at her, with a kunai in one hand and a fist in the other.

But Sakura had no intention of touching Naruto. _'Of course, you've gone insane too, ne Sasuke?'_ As she looked at him, she wondered why she didn't see it before. Sasuke only cared about Naruto. No matter how much she had tried to make him love her, it wasn't going to happen. She was only trying to drive a wedge between two halves of the same rock. And there wasn't even a crack for her to lodge her emotions. "I won't hurt him." She sighed as she stared at the blond shinobi, and she expected him to do something Naruto-like. She thought he would smile, call her Sakura-chan and look around without any idea of what had happened. But there was only that unstoppable empty-minded gaze. Naruto wasn't there.

And she couldn't stop her cracked heart from shaking. Sasuke would still love him, even if he never spoke to him again. Even if Naruto ignored him, he would still continue to love him, only him, and no one else. She understood how he felt.

Sasuke would never be happy, not with what she could give him. The only person who could make him happy was Naruto. But Naruto was...

_'Did you plan this Sasori? Did you know that I would use it?' _Still, she had the notebook he had given to her. _'Were you trying to kill me?'_ When she was locked in that room, alone for a month, she had nothing to do but read it, even though she had already memorized it long ago. When she was alone in her room and worrying about Sasuke, she would flip through it to take her mind off her problems. When she was in the hospital, months ago, she had opened it and wondered why Sasori had written something like this for her. But she understood now. She had no other choice but to use Chiyo's tensei technique.

Because only Naruto could make Sasuke happy...

"No! Sakura!" Sasori ran forwards. _'That technique!'_ He had forgotten all about it. He had intended to burn that notebook months ago.

But it was too late.

**N**eji ran through the flames, but there were so many trees burning around him that it was impossible to find the origin of the fire. _'Byakugan!'_ Even with the Hyuuga kekkei genkai, the bright flames were too difficult to see through. But somehow, he made his way through it.

To see Sakura fall to the ground.

The Hyuuga jounin ran forwards. If anything happened, Tsunade would never let him forget it! Knowing what he did... Knowing about her condition... He should have prevented anything from happening long ago! A more competent jounin would never have allowed anything to happen to her, not while knowing the truth.

Not while knowing that there were three lives at stake.

**End Chapter 31**

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**Toxicology Report on Sasori's Poison: Elements of Irreversibility**

Fire: This will be short since I'm only going to summarize what I've said about the poisons and how it's impossible to create an antidote for it. Tsunade said it was cruel and considered Sasori a monster for making something like this. When she tried to heal the victims, she couldn't do it. So, here's the explanation why.

Sasori: Because I'm a genius, that's why.

Fire: Um, no. That's not why. Anyway, read if you want to. Ignore if you don't want to. PM me if it's confusing. That's all.

Sasuke: Short today?

Fire: I'm in a hurry. Look at the date I uploaded this!

Sasori: --;;

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To summarize, Sasori used plant poisons to target the muscles, organs and central nervous system. The poisons used for this were the Aconitines from the Aconite family of plants, the classic shinobi poison water hemlock or dokuninjin, the alkaloids of the Gelsemium plant, Stavesacre's cardiac glycosides, and the Hellebore plants' cardiac poisons. Just these plants alone are enough to affect movement, speech, sight, breathing and touch. Only these plants would have created a traumatic experience ending in death. However, there are also the cyanogenic glycosides―which are sugars that create the poison cyanide when it enters the body―added for the sake of affecting aerobic respiration and the Spergularia resin which adds to structural damage. The result is extreme pain.

While most shinobi use poison, the purpose of their poisons are to kill their victims. Sasori created this poison to also torture his victims, in addition to killing them. To achieve this goal, he used borderline lethal concentrations to lengthen their ordeal. However, the problem with this is that plant poisons can be removed from the body, or antidotes can be applied before the victims die.

To counter this problem, Sasori added the animal poisons. The enzymes added contained digestive enzymes. Protease is a type of digestive enzyme designed to break down protein, ie muscles. When the victim's body begins to liquefy, as a result of digestion, the result is a mixture of the human bodily fluids and the poisons. As the poisons dissipate into the human body, it becomes more difficult to extract them.

This brings us back to hyaluronidases. As I've explained in the previous chapter, hyaluronidases break down the cell-cell junctions and help spread poisons. With borderline lethal doses, the chances of survival is 50. So, spreading the poison faster and to further extremities will increase the chances of death. The result is a painful death as opposed to just a death, which is the goal of this poison.

Chances of survival brings us back to the cruelty of this poison. As the poison dissipates into the body, extraction becomes more difficult. Shosen jutsu can extract the poison, but the medic-nin still has to find the poison first, before he can extract it. If the poison spreads quickly, it's impossible to find enough of it to save the victim.

So, for example, if 7 ml of dokuninjin can kill a person and Sasori concentrates the contents of 7 ml into 1 ml and uses it in conjunction with another element that helps spread the poison at a faster rate, the result is the dissipation of the 1 ml concentration into a human body that is easily over a million times its volume. With dokuninjin, there is an antidote, but if it was a poison without an antidote... You get the idea, right?

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Fire: So, there's my summary.

Sasori: Short. --;;

Fire: Waah! I can't explain it any better than that!

Sasori: I can.

Fire: Fine! Then _you_ do it! I'm leaving! I have important work to do! (runs off)

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Fire's English tidbits for those who care:

Interesting fact that I'm amazed no one has pointed out yet: grey and gray. --;; As strange as this is, I've learned to ignore it when my spell check tells me that grey is spelled wrong. For those of you who are reading this and don't understand, or have come across this and don't understand why your computer tells you that grey is not a word, the American spelling of the colour grey is gray, with an A. The British and Canadian spelling is grey with an E. It's another difference that will confuse a lot of ESL students. In the Canadian and British dictionaries, for those of you who haven't read your dictionaries from cover to cover, grey is the colour while gray refers to a type of horse. As for the American definitions, I don't know if the American definition of gray would be both the colour and the horse. I haven't bought a dictionary from the US. --;;

Fire's babbling:

Fire: In case no one knows what would happen to an invulnerable person if he is crushed, I have Hidan here to explain everything.

Hidan: I'll regenerate.

Fire: There you have it!

Hidan: But it takes a long time and is extremely painful. --;; My vital organs regenerate first, then the peripheral systems like the arms, legs and skin reform.

Fire: ...

Kakuzu: It would be better for us if Hidan only gets his limbs cut off. I can collect my bounties faster.

Fire: Ahem. --;; I don't want to know.

Kisame: Can you hug him now? (points at Kakuzu)

Fire: Um...I don't know what you mean!

Kisame: You kept saying how cute Kakuzu was when he was fighting.

Fire: But look at him!

Kakuzu: (looking like Kakuzu) ...

Kisame: I'm leaving. (leaves)

Fire: Waah! Kisame! Don't leave! (turns to the audience) Um, review! Send me any thoughts you have! (runs after Kisame)

Neji: Was that point clear?

Sakura: What point?

Sasuke: That you're carrying twins.

Sakura: Twins? I would have known if I was carrying twins!

Naruto: But you're not a doctor and you don't specialize in this kind of medicine. You specialize in field medicine which is better for...um...for... (looks at the notes in his hands) ...for...healing...people...and...not...for...

Sakura: I get it!

Sasuke: Who gave you those notes?

Naruto: Fire, right before running after Kisame.

Sasuke: (sighs) I'm leaving. Close the window.

Naruto: Send us a review and tell us if everything made sense! Was the explanation about Hidan and Kakuzu's presences...com-pre-hen-sible? (staring at the notes for a moment before reading on) Did the fight scenes flow properly? Do you understand how Tobi die―

Tobi: You killed me! (cries) But I'm Tobi!

Sasuke: Stop reading those damned notes and close the window!

Naruto: --;; Ja. (closes the window)

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	33. Thirty two: Leaving for the Other Side

Naruto: Waah! Sakura-chan!

Fire: Ahem. --;; If you remember what I said two chapters ago, you'd know that I've been dealing with doctors lately. I haven't had time to proofread or upload my chapters. Gomen nasai, minna-san! I know the chapter is late. I hope it's not too distressing.

Sasuke: You should try harder.

Fire: But I try! (hugs Kisame for comfort) Sasuke's yelling at me! With school and work, and the business with the doctors and Sand...I'm trying! Waah! Do you know how hard it is going all the way to the hospital, or to the specialists' offices, or trying to get appointments because your mom told you to do it? But she wants it to be soon, like in the next week or two, on convenient days so I can actually be there to translate what the doctor's saying to her, but specialists are usually booked for at least the next three months! And I do these on the only days I have off! Waah! I'm too tired!

Kisame: ...

Fire: Sasuke's being mean on purpose! I'm going to die soon, you know!

Sasuke: ...

Naruto: Sasuke, apologize!

Sasuke: No. If you're going to die, do it after you finish this story!

Tobi: (holding up Fire's personal agenda) And you have an appointment for a CT head scan to make, then another appointment with a nerve specialist. (scratching head) What's wrong with Sand?

Fire: (ignoring Tobi) I'm not allowed to say. And Sasuke's heartless. I know he is. I'm not expecting anything out of him. Anyway, I've gone through a slight dilemma over this issue of whether an Edo Tensei summoning is alive or not. The argument of what is considered alive is all over this chapter, so I don't want people telling me that Naruto is actually alive so Sakura shouldn't die if she uses Chiyo's Tensei. --;; Or that the Kyuubi wasn't originally alive in the series since he's sealed through Shiki Fuujin and that's supposed to kill the victim _and_ the jutsu-user. --;; If you want explanations, I can write another of those long explanations, but it'll have to be put up soon since the story is ending. (sighs) Anyway, this is about biology...again...some history, religion, philosophy, and ethics. I'm not sure if any of you want to read something like that.

Sasuke: The equation from the last book, Wait for Me: Following, is a complete Naruto Naruto's chakra + sealed Kyuubi's chakra 2 bodies in 1 approximately 1.5 lives. If anyone has read that story, you'd notice why it's 1.5 lives and not 2 lives. So, the events of this chapter shouldn't be too surprising.

Naruto: I'm two people? O.o;;;

Tobi: (reading the reviews) Aurora-san's not happy that I'm still alive? (cries) But I didn't mean to say those mean things! I was angry! She got in my way! I wanted to kill Sasori!

Fire: You're dead now. (scratching head) Sakura tore out your heart, or something like that, right? You can't possibly be alive. (grabs the reviews from Tobi)

Tobi: (sobs) You can't remember how I died, Fire-sama? (cries) But you read it so recently!

Fire: I've been busy with appointments. (reads reviews) Um...there's a reason why Sakura's carrying twins. I swear! Try not to be too surprised. After giving you that equation, it shouldn't be confusing anymore, Audrey-san. --;;

Deidara: Aurora-san, you expect me to control torigata nendo when I'm injured? I've used up so much chakra, then that pink-haired brat beats me up, yeah. Be surprised I can even get up after that, yeah! (sighs) The birds are made of clay, so they have no will of their own, yeah. When they fly, I have to use chakra to control them. By personally placing the nendo on my victims, I only have to use chakra to detonate it, and I don't have to control its movements, yeah. I'm using what chakra I had at the time, yeah! I had no more chakra, Aurora-san! I thought you loved me!

Sasori: Aurora-san's not trying to blame you, Deidara. Stop being stupid. She still loves you.

Tobi: (sobs) No one wants me anymore. I'm unloved. (sobs)

Deidara: Um...don't be too confused about my stopping when Sakura-san screamed, Aurora-san. It's natural human curiosity, yeah.

Fire: It's a part of psychology. I don't know if you like mind games, but my friends and I love them! If you stare at a place on the ceiling and point like it's interesting, or even normally, even if there is nothing there, people walking by will look, out of curiosity. If you scream in a public place, people will look and wonder what's going on. The same principles apply to everyone. It's a part of being human.

Deidara: Are you calling me human?

Fire: Deidara was naturally wondering what was wrong with Sakura. It only takes a split second to go insane and kill everyone, so Deidara didn't actually stop. He paused because of her scream, then was taken out before he could kill Tobi. I took the story and stretched the time frame. Masashi-sensei does it in the manga too. And did I say no? (sigh) Gomen nasai, Aurora-san! I didn't mean to confuse you about that! (cries on Kisame) Was I insane at that moment? Waah!

Sasuke: Ahem. Aurora-san, you should just read the chapter and consider whether or not it is considered a miscarriage. I don't think it does. A miscarriage implies that the fetus dies due to carelessness. It doesn't count if―

Fire: Waah! Don't tell her, Sasuke! Those are spoilers! And gomen nasai, Aurora-san! I know I've confused you, but I don't think I've lied about it. Just read on. If you have a different definition of a miscarriage from me, tell me about it! As for what you've said here, you've gone through all the different possible outcomes of Sakura using Chiyo's tensei so I'm not going to comment on it. Just consider that Sakura's not having kids so that she can have kids. She's currently sixteen in my story, fifteen at the time of...ahem...conception. --;; What normal fifteen-year-old girl wants kids at _that_ age? She's doing it because she wants to give Sasuke something to make him happy, because she was never able to do anything for him. It's something that girls think a lot about...um...that girls _in_ _love_ think a lot about. Especially if it's a prolonged one sided love. She's constantly thinking about how to make Sasuke love her, and how to make him happy, and how to make him want to be with her. I'm pretty sure a lot of you can relate. Sakura doesn't just want to be with someone who loves her, or just want to have kids. If she wanted something like that, she would have accepted Naruto's confession long ago! Sakura wants to be with the person she loves, and no one else.

Sakura: Wow, you think too much.

Fire: Sakura, you're being heartless! I'm trying to explain your character!

Sakura: ...

Sasori: So, Sakura loves me, right?

Fire: ...

Sasuke: (reading Aurora-san's review) Deidara's going to die?

Fire: I said maybe, Aurora-san! I like having Deidara around too, and I've found a role for him in the next book so I won't kill him...yet. (looks at Deidara) Maybe if I feel like it.

Deidara: You always say that, yeah.

Fire: But what about Hidan's head! Someone has to take care of his head!

Sasuke: Yakitori-san, you've never met a guy like me, have you?

Fire: Waah! Sasuke, are you hitting on the readers? (smacks Sasuke in the head) You have Naruto!

Naruto: (hugging Itachi) Hm?

Fire: --;; Never mind. Continue, Sasuke.

Sasuke: To explain, she'll love me forever!

Fire: That's not a good explanation.

Tsunade: I'm experienced. I'll explain. (pushes Sasuke away) When a girl's in love, and while that love is dying, the girl will never admit that she doesn't love him. Between Sakura and Sasuke, the situation is more complicated. She's used to being in love with Sasuke. After ten years, she's used to thinking about Sasuke that way. It takes a while before that feeling and that ideology goes away.

Fire: I've explained this in previous chapters before. --;;

Tsunade: Then why am I doing it again? I have important work to―

Kotetsu: (running up) Hokage-sama!

Izumo: (running next to Kotetsu) Hokage-sama! We've been searching all over for you!

Shizune: (running behind Kotetsu and Izumo) Tsunade-sama!

Tsunade: (runs away) Ja ne!

Fire: What we're trying to say, Yakitori-san, and I don't mean to be mean so don't take it the wrong way, but humans are reluctant to change. Habits are habits. You're right to say that Sakura doesn't love Sasuke _that_ much, but she's also trying to prove to herself that she still loves him.

Sakura: You're saying I'm in denial. I'M NOT IN DENIAL!

Fire: Next review! (scrolls to the next review before Sakura can be angered further)

Hidan: (shouts at EasilyAmusedReader-san) Jashin-sama loves me! He's all-powerful! What do you know! You worship worthless gods that won't protect you from something simple like decapitation and death!

Fire: But you still feel pain, Hidan.

Hidan: (glares at Fire) ...

Fire: Ahem! --;; Naruto's fine. He's just mindless, like a normal puppet. Remember that Chiyo developed her tensei technique to bring puppets to life. According to chapter 280, Chiyo led the team that researched and developed the technique to "give life to puppets." Since Suna is known for kugutsu, and Kankurou was talking about the history of puppetmasters―not just Chiyo but other puppeteers are implied when he mentioned 'people'―as a fellow puppeteer, the natural assumption is that they were developing a technique that will give life to humanoid beings made of wood, not just hitokugutsu, which only Sasori could create so it would only apply to Chiyo's reason for researching the technique; or the summonings of Edo Tensei, which is a Konoha kinjutsu so there is no reason for Suna―who was at war with Konoha at the time―to bring one of those puppets to life. --;; Don't want to be attacked by your own puppets, right? Anyway, Masashi-sensei implied through Chiyo's words and the flashbacks in chapter 274 that she had created the tensei to bring puppets back to life, or more specifically, to bring Sasori's parents back to life. Naruto's current state should have no effect on the outcome of the tensei since Sasori's parents don't have consciousness, and even less of a mental state.

Sasuke: And why didn't you ask this question during Wait for Me: Following, when I was brought back to life? (irritated) It's the same thing!

Fire: Um...EasilyAmusedReader-san might not have read that book, Sasuke!

Sasuke: You shut up!

Fire: --;; Spawn is plural as well as singular. One spawn, two spawn. One fish, two fish. Fishes applies to the plural of more than one species of fish. --;; Anyway, away from English grammar, sorry for the conflicting feelings. It's supposed to be confusing. Life doesn't always go the way you plan―

Sasuke: That means it's a surprise to us too. We had planned to kill Tobi long before chapter 31. --;; He was alive for far too long.

Tobi: You want me dead? (sobs)

Fire: What happened to Zetsu?

Zetsu: I decided to leave.

Fire: Where did you go?

Zetsu: (sinks into the ground) ...

Fire: O.o;;; Teges-san, are you reading everyone's reviews? --;; Um...what do I say? (looks over Aurora-san's review again)

Sasuke: Fire has no short term memory.

Fire: Waah! (hugs Kisame tighter) Sasuke's being mean again!

Kisame: (squeaks) Don't hug me anymore! (hands Hidan's head to Fire) Hug this!

Hidan: Do I look like I want a hug?

Fire: (hugs Hidan's head) ...

Hidan: Waugh! (suffocating)

Fire: (still hugging Hidan's head) Um, EasilyAmusedReader-san, Sakura wasn't just hurting other people for Sasuke. She really just did it to make herself feel better about her teammates' deaths. Read over Wait for Me: Following and Wait for Me: Aku no Yami if you don't understand what I'm trying to say and want clarifications. She wasn't killing people just for Sasuke. But if you're talking about her brief insanity in the last chapter, that was the guilt of killing all those people making her crazy. She thought she was fighting the ghosts, but was actually hurting Sasori, Deidara, Tobi, etc. --;; Just a small clarification if it wasn't clear. I might go back and rewrite it if it's vague. I thought it was pretty straightforward. (scratches head)

Sasori: (staring at the bottom of EasilyAmusedReader-san's review) O.O Kiss Sakura? (looks at Sakura) She'll kill me! (takes a step away from her)

Fire: (stares confusedly at Theteacher-san's review) I don't understand. Is this from the prologue?

Sasuke: --;; New reader?

Fire: Welcome! You're started reading when this chapter was uploaded, actually it was the week before this chapter was uploaded, but I didn't update that week because of...um...business. Anyway, thanks for reading, even though Naruto's dead.

Naruto: Waah! I'm dead?

Fire: Stop crying! Anyway, I'll be replying to people who review after the story is over, so don't be afraid of reviewing.

Hidan: Damn it! Kisame, get me away from this insane writer!

Fire: (still hugging Hidan's head) Now for some basketball!

Hidan: Do I look like a basketball!

Fire: (holds up a basketball) I wasn't going to use _you_, Hidan. You can sit here and guard the story. (puts Hidan's head on the pile of reviews) You can be paperweight-san.

Hidan: --;;

Fire: Now, on with the chapter!

Tobi: Even when I'm dead, I'm still working. (sobs as he pulls chapter 32 onto the screen) But thank you...um...? How do I read this?

Fire: Just hurry up and pull the next chapter on! This was a long A/N!

Tobi: Anyway, I died. Sorry. I wasn't a good boy, so Fire-sama killed me. (cries as he pulls the rest of chapter 32 onto the screen)

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Warning: Contains profanity, blood, violence, slight insanity and tragedy. If you need tissues, grab them now, although the scenes are not nearly as sad as in Wait for Me: Following. Hug a pillow if you need to hide from the blood. It's not as bad as in chapter 4, but...get one if you're squeamish. Also contains scenes that are hard to stomach. Don't blame me if you didn't heed my rating. I said that you should be at least 15-years-old to read this story.

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Warning: Again, you should be up to date on the manga to read this story. There _WILL BE SPOILERS _for anyone who haven't read up to the latest chapters. I have references to Dan and Tsunade's past in this chapter, so if you don't remember what happened between them, please reread the chapters, otherwise you could get confused. As for Hidan, the character is straightforward. If you haven't read the latest chapters, you won't have any idea who he is anyway.

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Note: Contains parts referring to events in the other books of the Wait for Me series. If you want to know the full story, go to my profile page and click on the links for them. If you just want an explanation about, ask and I'll send you a brief summary of what happened. Anyway, it's not too much so you don't really need to know what happened, but if you can't find examples from Masashi-sensei's Naruto series to fill you in, you haven't been paying enough attention.

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Note: Just a vocabulary note. A haemophobe is someone who is afraid of blood. This comes from the Greek word for blood and the Greek word for fear. Since Tsunade is afraid of blood, she's a haemophobe. By the way, this is British and Canadian spelling. If you're going to use this word in the US, drop the "a." And just a reminder if you've forgotten that the verb "to shunshin" and all conjugations and derivatives belong to me. It comes from "Shunshin no jutsu," meaning to move by using this technique. I don't remember what Viz translated this technique as, and I don't care. If you don't any of the techniques I use here, I'll direct you somewhere where you can learn them in Japanese.

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**Chapter 32: Leaving for the Other Side**

_**'E** ven in these last moments, I still can't be strong. Gomen. I tried. Forgive me. My hands can only shake. Within my chest, there is only fear. Again, I've disappointed you. Allow this cold silence between us to last a little longer. I can't think of anything to say that will make everything better. I can't think of anything that will make the past return...for even a moment...so that we can become innocent again. So that I can release this selfishness that desperately clings to you. Are you unhappy? Is that why you refuse to look at me? Even in my last moments, in these last moments that I can spend with you, can't you look at me and smile? Isn't there even one... Can't you give even one kind memory to me before I leave?'_

**I**t was difficult, but he couldn't allow the fire to keep him away. As soon as he came to the burning barrier, he knew that Sakura was on the other side. The purple chakra mixing into the cold rain could only belong to her. She was in danger! He had to go to her! _'Suiton: Suikoudan no jutsu!'_ He gathered the water falling from the sky into a single wave, crashing through the burning trees.

All he needed was a way through the fire.

"Sakura!" He shouted as he landed. As he looked in the direction of the pink-haired girl, red filled his vision. Red... She was bleeding! She was covered in blood! "Sakura!" Kakashi glanced at the redhead running to her side for one moment before shoving him away. He had no doubt that Sasori was somehow behind it, that Sakura's injury was somehow the nukenin's fault! "Don't touch her!" As he pulled Sakura into his arms, he refused to let Sasori touch her.

**B** eneath the grey light of rain, Sakura saw clearly. As she walked forwards, her eyes couldn't look away. Sasuke's face was filled with desperation. She had never seen him like this. "Don't touch Naruto!" He believed that she would actually hurt him...even though it was impossible. The dead couldn't feel pain. Did he forget? In his hand, the kunai threatening her only shouted his insanity louder.

_'Of course, you've gone insane too, ne Sasuke?'_ Blood clotted her nose, clinging to each bright red breath. "I won't hurt him." Because in the end, she could never bring herself to hurt them.

She would have loved to be the kind of person who could leave them alone and wish them happiness. She would have loved that kind of strength. But it was impossible. Sakura knew that she wasn't saintly enough to have that kind of power. Even as she stood in front of Naruto, she could only feel her heart blacken knowing that she couldn't let go of them. She couldn't bring herself to forgive him for taking Sasuke away. _'Sasuke-kun...'_ She couldn't bring herself to look at Sasuke...knowing that he would only be watching Naruto...knowing that he couldn't spare a thought for her, even though she could only think about him even as blood filled her chest. Even as she suffocated beneath the cursed seal spreading across her body... As the pieces of her heart choked with the possibility of breaking again...

...she couldn't look at him, and say goodbye.

_'Did you plan this, Sasori?' _ Within, she had already decided. She couldn't look away from Sasuke. As her eyes moved to the dark-haired shinobi, heavy regret filled her chest, regret that she wasn't stronger, regret that she couldn't love him more, regret that she couldn't let him go. Regret that she couldn't let him let go of Naruto. _'Did you know that I would use it?'_

Regret that she could only give him misery.

Sakura held her arms toward Naruto, gathering all the chakra she could find in her body. The seal shivered across her rain-soaked skin as heavy purple chakra surged through them to her hands, burning her blood covered body. Behind her, Sasori's shout cut through her thoughts. "No! Sakura!" But it was too late to stop her.

She had thought it wouldn't work. Just reading about something didn't mean that she could do it, even if she had read it so many times, even though she had thought about using it a few times before. There were so many things that could have stopped her. How she longed for Sasuke to stop her...to tell her that she shouldn't do it. But he only stood motionless by their side. He only wanted Naruto back. Even if he never restored his clan, he didn't care. His hands never grabbed hers, stopped hers from touching the summoning. No one saw the agony of knowing no one wanted to stop her from dying.

Without the seal, she wouldn't have had enough chakra to do it. She had used so much chakra getting here. The uneasiness swirling in her round body pulled at the edge of her mind, but she didn't have the time, or the spare chakra to sooth the child. She only had enough to do this, then she wouldn't have the strength to do anything anymore.

Sakura pressed the tentacles of purple chakra forwards, into the blond shinobi's body, even as his chest crumbled against her palms. She couldn't stop it. She couldn't even stop him from crumbling. She couldn't stop herself now, when she could no longer move her arms.

"Naruto..." The word slipped from her mouth as bright white light filled her vision. There was nothing but the light, and for a moment, she wondered if she was dead. But as she looked forwards, a glaring vision of yellow and orange blinded her, and her legs pushed her unstoppably forwards. She didn't even realize the lightness of her body until she came to his side. "Naruto..."

The blond shinobi grinned as soon as he saw her... _"Sakura-chan!"_ ...almost as if they weren't standing in the middle of nowhere. Even in a place like this, Naruto was still Naruto. In all this time... After all that she and Sasuke had been through... Naruto was still himself. _"You're stuck here too?"_ He looked around before grabbing her by the shoulders. _"Sakura-chan, don't worry! I'll find a way out. Just leave it to me!"_

Sakura could only stare at him. A way out...as if they were only trapped behind a simple kekkai... Only Naruto could think so simply of this place. Only he could look pass the hopelessness of this place. They weren't trapped anywhere.

"Gomen, Naru—" Blood choked Sakura, scraping the words against her throat and flooding over the hand flying to the front of her mouth. The pink-haired girl could only stare at the shining blood coating her hands before turning frantic eyes at Naruto. _'I forgot.'_ She didn't have a lot of time. "Naruto," she said, forcing a bloody smile at the jinchuuriki. "I'm being a burden. Gomen." Her hands wrung the shirt covering her chest as pain shot through her lungs, filling her mouth with blood. "I—" She forced the thick red liquid painfully down, before Naruto could see her suffering. "I didn't mean..." ...to be a burden.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto's hands reached for the pink-haired girl as she collapsed. "Sakura-chan!"

But Sasuke held the blond shinobi too tightly, and he couldn't catch her before she fell. "Naruto..." He doubted his eyes, and his hands, but he couldn't settle the knowledge in his mind. It was really Naruto. He was really back!

"Sakura!"

Her vision darkened as she stared far into the grey sky. She couldn't turn her head enough to look anywhere else. _'Gomen. If only we could spend more time together...'_ Already, her body was too heavy to move. _'Forgive me...'_ She wouldn't have another chance to say anything again, but she still couldn't make the words come out. She couldn't admit that this was the last time she would see him. _'I...don't want to leave yet.'_ She tried to force his name from her throat, but it wouldn't come out. "S-Sa..." As she stared at the cool rain falling from her empty sky, she couldn't even say that one word. She couldn't even say his name.

"Sakura!" As Kakashi ran forwards, Sasori was already running to his student's side. But he couldn't let the nukenin... "Don't touch her!" He shouted as he pushed the redhead out of his way.

"Of course," Sasori said slowly as his eyes looked down at the mass of pink hair and soft words. She wouldn't want him to hear her last words anyway. _'It's my fault.'_ As someone who had killed her, he didn't want to hear them either. _'If only I hadn't forgotten that book...'_ ...he could spend more time with her.

"Don't blame Sasori-sama, yeah!" Deidara was shouting in his defense, but even the blond nukenin's sincere words were not enough to convince him. Sasori knew the heavy guilt that lay in his chest. "It's not—"

"Deidara!" Sasori knew that he had killed her. "Urusai!" He couldn't let Deidara defend him when Kakashi was right.

"I wanted to tell you." Tears filled Sakura's eyes as her vision faded. Her numb hands could barely feel Kakashi's arms holding her. Only the shaking pain of death told her that she was still alive. "Gomen...Sas—" Her entire body tensed against the convulsions threatening to tear her body apart.

And freezing reality finally sank into Sasori's body as surely as it stabbed through the grey-haired jounin holding Sakura. With that face of complete surprise and desperation, there was no other thought in Kakashi's mind. Even at this moment, Sakura was still only thinking of that one person, the only person she loved.

"Kuso! Sasuke!" Sasori grabbed the dark-haired shinobi by the arm, wrenching him forwards. "She's talking to you, bakayarou!" He pulled Sasuke to her side, but the dark-haired shinobi still wouldn't look at her. _'Look at her, kuso!'_ He wouldn't take his eyes off Naruto. He couldn't stop watching the blond shinobi's falling tears, couldn't stop listening to the soft whispers of Sakura's name from the blond shinobi's shaking lips.

"Sh-shannaro..." Sakura couldn't believe she couldn't say it! She couldn't say goodbye to him! _'Why am I hesitating?'_ Why couldn't she just say it? "Baka." When she was only thinking about him, why couldn't she say one small word? "I'm an idiot, Sas...

"Sasuke," Kakashi said determinedly, even though his arms still refused to let go of the girl clutched tightly against his chest. "You should—"

"..ori."

Overhead, the loud cries of the burning trees roared over Sakura's harsh breathing. Slowly, as the name burrowed into Sasori's head, his hands loosened from Sasuke's collar. "Sakura..." His confused body turned slowly toward the pink-haired medic-nin. All this time... _'She was calling for me?'_ "Sakura!" He grabbed the girl from Kakashi. If only he could hear her screaming thoughts, he could have been there sooner. "Sakura, I'm here!"

"Sasori, gomen," she said as she stared unseeing into the darkness where she knew Sasori was looking back at her. She had waited too long. She had held onto Sasuke for too long, even though she had known that she didn't love him anymore. She waited so long that she couldn't even feel Sasori's hands now that she had the chance to touch them. "I can't..." She had wasted so much time on the past that she couldn't admit that she... "I can't say goodbye to you." She couldn't say it. She couldn't say those words that would end her feelings before she could even realize them. "Sasori..." She didn't want to die yet!

"Don't worry," Sasori said as he wiped the blind tears from Sakura's unseeing eyes. "Heh, I'm your summoning, right? I'll just die with you." She didn't need to say goodbye to him. _'Your confession is really bad, Sakura.'_ He hugged the girl tightly, waiting for their hearts to stop. Blood was already flooding out of her body from that strong embrace. It shouldn't be too long now. "I'll be here."

Slowly, he counted, listening only to the faint beating of Sakura's heart, waiting for the inevitable moment it stopped.

**T** sunade stared at Lee's words. Anko had knocked Jiraiya unconscious? "Fine!" She grabbed the green-clad chuunin before running out of the Hokage tower. She couldn't depend on anyone for this! Everything was going wrong! And winning the latest lottery wasn't a good sign either. "Lee! Directions!"

"Straight ahead, Hokage-sama!" She wouldn't let Lee run on his own, even though he could probably keep up with her speed. But she was determined to get there as soon as possible. She had even gathered the medical team ahead of time so they wouldn't waste a single moment. She just couldn't understand days like these, when everything seemed to go wrong. It was even more of a reason why she couldn't allow Lee to run. With her luck, he would trip, fall and break his leg, and slow down the team even more. They needed him for directions.

"Shizune, as soon as we come to the ANBU team, direct the medic-nin. I'm going ahead!"

"H-Hai, Tsunade-sama!" Shizune's words came out a moment before Tsunade shunshin-ed ahead. She was in charge of this mission, not the Hokage. Tsunade went ahead, and it was okay, because she wasn't in charge, but somehow Shizune was uneasy about being left with the team of medic-nin. "You heard Tsunade-sama! We have to hurry!" Shizune shouted, pushing the worry out of her head. She couldn't let anything distract her from this mission. This was a very important mission.

She couldn't let Tsunade down!

But Tsunade...

As she came to the edge of the fire, Tsunade couldn't stop herself. She dove into the fire, even though Lee screamed as the flames caught his tights, singeing his rain-soaked skin. "Sakura!" Tsunade shouted as she saw her pink-haired apprentice lying beneath the rain.

**T**he sound of fire snapped at him, filling his senses long after the other sounds had faded. Including the sound of Sakura's heart. Sasori waited. He had waited for a short while. Deidara, Kakashi, and Naruto had shaken him, trying to make him rise from the muddy ground. Even Hidan complained somewhere in the back of his hearing. But his arms remained frozen around Sakura's body. It still held her warmth even though he knew that she was dead. _'But...'_ He waited for the moment he disappeared. Summonings shouldn't live longer than their masters! _'...I'm still alive?'_

It was impossible! Summonings couldn't survive like this! Edo tensei summonings couldn't survive like this!

But he had never asked Orochimaru about this Konoha kinjutsu. It could summon the dead...but he wasn't dead when Sakura summoned him. He was only sealed. It couldn't work the same way if she was summoning someone alive.

"You left me behind," he said as his arms slowly released Sakura. _'Like my parents left me behind.'_ "Why didn't you take me with you, Sakura?" If she loved him, she should have taken him with her instead of making him suffer alone. "And it's your fault!"

He turned, pulling Orochimaru from his summoning scroll as he shouted. Last time, it was Kakashi. Kakashi was the original source of all his problems. Without Kakashi, his parents would still be with him! But his parents would forgive him if he sought Sakura's vengeance.

"Uchiha Sasuke! Uzumaki Naruto!" They were responsible for this!

"This has nothing to do with me!" Naruto shouted as he leapt away from Orochimaru's attack. He had just returned after being dead for over a year. He could barely understand what was happening! "Sakura-chan!" Sakura couldn't be dead!

"If you want to die, I'll send you to her," Sasuke said as he grabbed the puppetmaster's arm, pulling the poisoned kunai from the redhead's hand. Sasori wasn't trying hard enough. Even Sasuke could see that. Perhaps Sasori really wanted to die, and be with Sakura. "Don't touch Naruto!"

"Sakura!" Tsunade's shout startled everyone as she appeared through the fire. She looked at the pink-haired girl for one second before checking for a pulse.

"She's dead," Sasori said as he wrenched his arm out of Sasuke's grip. "Deidara, kill them all!" He was alone again. Did they understand how long he had been alone?!

Deidara stared surprisedly for a moment. He was no longer Sasori's partner. He didn't have to follow the puppetmaster's orders. But for orders like this, he didn't care. He liked blowing things up anyway.

But his arms wouldn't move.

"Lee! Don't just stand there!" Tsunade shouted, completely ignoring the group of frozen nukenin at the edge of her kanashibari. _'They've already forgotten who I am,'_ she sighed inwardly as she pulled a kunai from its pouch. For even a jounin, it was easy to stop multiple enemies with kanashibari. For the Hokage, it was even easier.

"But..." Lee looked around. "What do you need me to do, Hokage-sama!"

Tsunade glanced at Kakashi, then at the head trying to hop around a pile of bones in the corner of the clearing, and shook her head. "Get—" _'Don't think about it!'_ "Get that head before it gets away." She couldn't believe she had to say something like that. "Neji," she continued, even though the jounin must feel useless, standing at the edge of this unstoppable scene. "We need an operating room. Hurry to Konoha and tell the hospital to prepare for an emergency operation."

"Y-yes, Hokage-sama!" Neji turned and disappeared into the trees.

"Kakashi, stop looking so wretched and put out the fire before it burns down the entire forest!"

Tsunade didn't know what had happened in this cursed place, but... Beneath her hands, the warm bodies of unborn children radiated through their mother's skin. If she couldn't save Sakura, she had to save the children.

**F**rom within the correctional facility, Sasori stared out at the courtyard where the other convicts worked. Tsunade had considered him a dangerous threat, and he was awaiting execution...along with Deidara and Hidan. But Deidara and Hidan's punishments weren't as clearcut. Sasori already knew that he was going to die, even thought Tsunade hadn't said anything yet.

The medic-nin that had come running into the clearing had pulled Sakura away so quickly that he wasn't given a chance to understand what was happening. They were panicking, and Tsunade was shouting things to everyone so that he couldn't follow any of her words.

All he knew was that Sakura was dead. Their children were dea— _'Not my children! Not mine!'_ He had to consciously remember that they weren't really his children, again.

"Sasori," Tsunade said as she walked into the small cell. She sat down before speaking again. "You're free to go." Originally, she had wanted to kill him, to execute him for what he had done. But he was suffering as well. Naruto explained it all.

_The door to the Hokage office threw open and Naruto ran in, shouting, an event that hadn't happened for over a year, and Tsunade wasn't ready for it. "Tsunade-obaachan! I know what you're thinking, and you're wrong!" He shouted as he slammed his hand against her desk, toppling the carefully stacked documents to the ground. _

"_Tell me, Naruto. What am I thinking?" Tsunade had caught the ink pot in time, before it could spill over the papers she had worked on for over an hour. _

"_You're going to kill Sasori!" When he heard Sasuke's morbid comment in the hospital, while they were waiting for Sakura's operation to end, he ran over immediately. "You can't do it!"_

"_It's easy. Just watch. He'll be punished for—"_

"_But you can't..." Naruto could still remember what Sasori had said when Sakura died. She was leaving him behind. She was leaving him alone when he wanted to go with her. _

_He couldn't remember what it was like to be dead. He couldn't remember a lot about being a summoning. Naruto supposed that it was better this way. If he could remember the days of suffering as someone who wasn't quite dead and wasn't quite alive, he would probably become insane. But even though he couldn't remember those days, he remembered his life, and the moments before his death clearly. He understood what being left behind was like._

_So, he couldn't let Tsunade kill him! "Sasuke left me in the village," Naruto said as he stared at the woman. "More than once, he left me here, alone!" He expected her to understand. Didn't she have people who had left her behind too? "And when we were finally together again, he died! But I went with him. I didn't suffer." He could still remember the days of his childhood, when he was alone. For Sasori, he wondered if it was the same. "When important people die, there are others willing to help heal the pain. What happens..." ...like Gaara, who had no one... "What happens when there is no one to heal them?!" Tsunade couldn't just kill Sasori when he had done nothing wrong! "He's suffering, even without Tsunade-obaachan's interference!"_

"Leave, before I change my mind," Tsunade said before walking out the door.

"No. I think I'll stay here a little longer," Sasori said as he leaned against a cold stone wall. He had his freedom, but what did it mean when he couldn't even save Sakura? "I can leave when I want to leave, right?" He wasn't ready to face her family yet.

"I might change my mind later."

"Hn." He didn't care. If she had killed him, he could at least be with Sakura.

**T**he cold glow of Chikatsu Saisei filled the large room. This was the first time they had to use it in almost a year. There was just something about this team that brought the worst casualties. Sometimes, the medic-nin speak of the Kyuubi's curse. Because the jinchuuriki was in this team, they would always suffer.

Shizune refused to believe in curses.

Tsunade had worked for hours after finding Sakura. It was almost like travelling back in time, back to the moment she had found Dan lying in the rain, covered in blood. When Shizune arrived, she was almost too surprised to move. Tsunade was afraid of blood. She was afraid of blood, so how could she ignore Sakura's bloody chest, or the red glare clinging to Sakura's face? When Shizune asked her about it, after they brought the pink-haired girl to the emergency room, Tsunade only smiled shakily and said that she couldn't let her apprentice die.

Shizune guessed that included her as well.

That was before Tsunade collapsed from shock. Touching that much blood must have been traumatizing to the haemophobe. But bringing Sakura back from the dead was worth it.

The pink-haired girl was weak. In reality, she was too weak for a long operation like this. But the wounds on her chest and the injuries she had sustained was so extensive that she would die if they didn't do it. Then all of Tsunade's efforts would have been wasted.

That was why this operation had to succeed!

**T**sunade reached out a hand and poked the head with a sharp finger. "Ow!" Hidan glared at the woman. "Don't fucking poke me! You haven't seen a head before?" The woman had been poking him for several hours, without a single word of explanation! "Oi!" He shouted again as this time, she aimed for his jaw. "Stop, damn it!" If he had his body, he could easily kill this woman, but she had handed it to the Nara clan as soon as they arrived in Konoha again, and the Nara clan buried his body somewhere in their damned sacred forest!

"If I chop your head in half, would you die?" Tsunade mused.

"Don't fucking joke about that!" He didn't really know. No one had tried to chop his head in half before.

"Someone needs to look after your head," she said as she reached for her binder of Konoha shinobi. If he managed to find his body, or escape again, he would become an even bigger threat than he was today. "Which reminds me...I should tell the Tsuchikage that we have Deidara." She thought about it, but decided to put it off...again. Konoha weren't on good terms with Iwagakure. If she tried to contact the Tsuchikage, they would jump to conclusions and say that she had hidden Deidara from them, or some other crazy accusation that wouldn't make sense.

She had to think about what to do with Deidara too.

"Get a girl to look after me!" Hidan shouted as Tsunade thumbed through the book. "It'd better be a girl! Did you hear!" Already, Hidan was thinking about how to escape. A kunoichi might sympathize with him and let down her guard. Then, he would escape!

"I didn't know you were so perverted, Hidan," Tsunade said as she stared at the head. "You want a girl to wash your hair?"

"I didn't fucking say that, damn old woman!" But nothing Hidan said was getting through to the Hokage.

**End Chapter 32**

---------------------------

Fire's English tidbits for those who care:

Since I've talked enough in this chapter, I'll just leave an interesting English note. Media is plural. It comes from a Latin root word. The singular is medium. Isn't that good to know? Anyway, the same goes for a lot of Latin root words like memoranda and data. The singulars are memorandum and datum. (scratching heads) Should I do Greek root words next? I already mentioned octopus in a different tidbit, right?

Fire's babbling:

Fire: (wiping sweat) Long. --;;

Sasuke: You forgot to call the doctor.

Fire: Waah! (runs away) I don't want to! I don't want to!

Hidan: I want a girl to take care of me. Does that sound perverted to you?

Kakuzu: A little.

Tsunade: (still reading her book) Kurenai would kill him instantly.

Kurenai: Let me do it.

Fire: --;; Um...please don't ask me about the lateness of this chapter. I already explained it at the top. I know it was a long A/N, but I had a lot of things to say.

Tsunade: The answer to Naruto's question about what happens to the people who have no one to heal their pain is "they stop moving ahead." Time stops and they become trapped within the tragedy. There are numerous examples in this series about this. One from this book is the part where Sasuke goes insane because of Naruto's death.

Sasori: So you want me to suffer like that? O.o;;; You really hate me.

Fire: By the way, Sakura's still alive. --;; I'm not sure if anyone caught it since I didn't actually say that she was alive. She _did_ die, since her heart stopped, but Tsunade did emergency resuscitation and made her breathe again. Regarding that, Chiyo's tensei trades one life for another. Since Naruto's actually 1.5 lives, only 1.5 lives need to be traded away. With Sakura on the brink of death, she barely had a full life! By the way, women aren't allowed to have abortions after three months of the pregnancy have passed. That's because after that, the babies begin growing vital systems. At this point in the story, Sakura's kids are already 7 months old and most of their vital organs and bodily systems have already grown. So, since they can survive at this point...although it's very slim since they're twins and twins are naturally smaller at birth than individual children...I consider them alive. See the foreshadowing at the end of chapter 31 where Neji says that there are three lives at stake. (sighs) I want to sleep now.

Sasori: (pointing to the A/N at the beginning of this chapter) Sakura, you said you _weren't _in denial, but you're clearly in denial in this chapter!

Sakura: But I'm not!

Sasuke: We're going to stop talking now.

Fire: Yes, too much talking in this chapter. Um...leave me a review and tell me what you think. I'm really sorry about this chapter. I wanted to upload it last week, but―

Sasuke: Just leave us a review. If you still consider what happened to be a miscarriage, tell us about it, Aurora-san.

Fire: It wasn't right? I really don't think it is!

Kisame: If Fire was babbling incoherently, don't mind it. Fire's really, really tired. (looks around covertly) I was almost mistaken for Arlong from One Piece this morning. I don't even have a nose like that! Do I look like a sawfish!

Fire: They both carry huge swords, have blue skin and are fish. I thought you were related.

Kisame: See? That's why we're leaving now.

Fire: Ja! (waves frantically)

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	34. Thirty three: Coming to the Other Side

Fire: (looking around) Was it really _that_ sad? Sasuke! Was it!

Sasuke: (shrugs confusedly) Don't ask me.

Naruto: (crying) ...

Fire: Um...Audrey-san, I think I already said that I have no emotions, right? And well, Sasuke's... (looks at Sasuke) He's Sasuke. Unless it's really emotional, we usually feel nothing. I didn't think it was sad enough when I read over it. --;;

Sasuke: Don't compare me to you. I feel emotions.

Fire: ...

Sasuke: I do!

Fire: --;; (reading EasilyAmusedReader-san's review) Um...no, Naruto doesn't have a kunai in his head. Since Chiyo said that her tensei was supposed to bring someone or something back to life, I think she took inanimate beings into consideration. She originally said that it was supposed to bring puppets to life, but puppets lack the internal structures living beings possess...like organs to breathe, move, and think. --;; If Naruto had a kunai in his head, eventually, the brain would hemorrhage and he would die. An Edo Tensei summoning can't die since it's not alive, but Naruto's alive now, right? If he had a kunai in his head, he wouldn't be able to just put himself back together after damaging his brain.

Sasuke: (looks at the deviant art picture) --;;

Fire: (laughing at Sasuke)

Sasuke: Are you all idiots? Why does everyone think that if I have kids with Sakura, they would all have pink hair!

Fire: (still laughing at Sasuke)

Sasuke: Go read a book on genetics! Black is on a dominant gene! My kids would all have black hair! Besides... (looks at Sakura) ...pink should be a mutation of red.

Sakura: (crying) Sasuke-kun called me a mutant.

Fire: (trying to stop laughing) Ahem! Tobi, where is the rest of my reviews?

Tobi: You're excluding me again. (hands a review slowly to Fire)

Fire: (reading Sekiryu-san's review) To explain what happened, I said 1.5 lives in exchange for Naruto's, and I already said that I considered the babies alive, so they each possess one life each. That means that Sakura's body held 3 lives. --;; 3 lives – 1.5 lives 1.5 lives, right? Um...here's the science in this equation. --;; If it gives you a headache, I apologize ahead of time. Scientific part: according to the laws of Natural Selection, ie. survival of the fittest, the strong survive and the weak perish. I used these principles to determine who would die and who would survive. The obvious choice would be the children since they can't survive without their mother. That should make Sakura the strongest of the three, and an obvious survivor of the technique; however, she had already used most of her chakra and was bleeding profusely at the time; Tobi had already stabbed her in the chest. Being hurt physically decreases her physical strength, and low levels of chakra means her stamina, or body energy, and spiritual energy are also low. The definition of chakra, from chapter 90/episode 52 is the product of mixing body and spiritual energies, and when the shinobi's chakra and stamina are at zero, the result is death. From this, we can determine that Sakura was near death, even if she has perfect chakra control. In addition, she had also used up a lot of chakra in an effort to prevent damage to her children while she was fighting and moving around. As a result, the children should have had nearly no physical damage. So in terms of math, Sakura her kids. To determine which of the kids would survive is purely by luck. Whoever was closer to the points of impact where Tobi had stabbed Sakura—ie. whoever was near the top—and where Sakura had accidentally punched Kakuzu—also from above—would have endured a more powerful shock wave. That child would have shielded its sibling, resulting in a difference in physical status. In terms of hp—sorry for the game terms, but it helps to clarify everything—Sakura would have been at about 20 hp, one child would have been at nearly 50 hp and the other child would have been a little above that at about 70 hp right before Sakura died.

Sasuke: Long.

Naruto: (eyes spinning) Nani? I don't understand.

Sakura: You never understand! (stares at Sasuke) Not like Sasuke-kun.

Sasori: I thought you're in love with me. Why are you staring at Sasuke?

Hidan: (reading Rini-san's review) I'm not a damned pet!

Fire: He's an S-ranked head.

Hidan: I get hungry. (confused) I don't die but I'll...weaken? --;; But it'll take time. Invulnerability has that kind of effect.

Fire: Hidan's not invincible. He's only invulnerable. That means that he can't be killed, but he can get hurt. Hm...how to explain this. --;;

Hidan: I'll explain it!

Sasuke: At the end. This is getting too long again. (kicks Tobi forwards with the next chapter) Tobi!

Tobi: (crying) Why did you have to kick me?

Sasuke: Hurry, before Fire talks again!

Tobi: (scrambles onto the screen with chapter 33) ...

---------------------------

**Chapter 33: Coming to the Other Side**

_**'T**he cold hands reaching out belongs to me. Against the empty sky, my fingers spread away, flying toward you. In the silence surrounding these lonely streets, my voice calls for you. I'm searching for you. Where did you lock yourself? Where did you hide so that I can't see you? The shadows of people walking by tell useless tales, draw useless maps to faraway places that hold the possibility of finding anyone but you. Because you have left me behind, my actions are useless. Because you won't let me go with you, I can never return to your side.'_

**F**or a week, the feeling that she was forgetting something important raked against her chest. Without an explanation, the nurses had told her that she was asleep for seven days, and that she had to stay in the hospital for another seven days for observation. But they still didn't tell her anything about what she was forgetting. All she knew was that it was important.

As she sat in her room, waiting for someone she didn't remember, she could only stare and wonder where that long scar came from. Across her flat stomach, a row of stitches made its way across her skin. In the dim light of a rainy afternoon, it only raised more questions than answers. Kakashi-sensei, Ino, her parents, Shizune, and Tsunade—when she found the time to visit—never told her anything about it. She guessed the scar had something to do with why she was in the hospital.

Whether she asked or not, no one told her anything. She didn't ask anymore. After a week, she could leave this empty white hospital room and ask someone else, someone she hadn't found yet. She wouldn't have to stay there anymore. She could return to her normal life. She wouldn't have to worry about this strange disappointment sitting in her chest.

But after a week, the doctors still insisted that she stay.

She tried to ask them why they needed to observe her. She needed answers. If she was in danger, she could handle it! But no one told her anything.

She knew that they were probably trying to protect her. She could feel their concern suffocating her. She wanted to stay still, to stay in that hospital room and make them happy. She wanted to ease that worry creasing her mother's forehead, and pulling her father's face into a permanent frown. But she couldn't do it. The restlessness in her chest pulled her away, called her away. Within her mind, the memory of someone she couldn't remember properly kept interrupting her thoughts.

_'Sasuke-kun?'_ She wanted to see him. She wanted to see Sasuke.

So, she left. She left in search of Sasuke, of answers to why they were imprisoning her in the hospital. She left for that shaking emotion pulling her chest out the window. She couldn't stay there without any answers. When Ino failed to appear on time for her daily visit, she opened her window and jumped out of the third story window into the village.

She wanted to return to the normal life she had before. She wanted to leave the hospital. She wanted to see Sasuke-kun, and Naruto, and Kakashi-sensei. And most of all, she wanted to rid herself of the shivering emotions in her chest.

**D**uring the two weeks he had stayed in the prison, Sasori had wondered if Tsunade would truly change her mind, as she had said. She wasn't going to let him stay there, not when there were dangerous criminals she could lock in that cell. Sooner or later, she would tell him to leave, and the message came later that day, exactly two weeks after he decided to shut himself from the rest of the world. If he wanted to suffer, he had to do it somewhere else. If he wanted to sulk, he had to do it on his own.

But he had nowhere to go. He wasn't originally from Konoha. He had no friends there, only acquaintances like Kakashi who would probably kill him in his sleep if he had the chance. Even Ino, he couldn't trust fully. She was Sakura's friend, not his. If she held a grudge against him, for what he had done to Sakura, for killing her, she would kill him too.

And returning to Suna was out of the question. His entire family was dead, and even if they were alive, they wouldn't allow him to stay with them. Not after killing Sandaime Kazekage, becoming an S-ranked criminal and trying to kill Godaime Kazekage too. Even if they were alive, they would never welcome him back. Even Ebisou, his grandmother's brother, shunned him.

There was really nowhere for him to go other than Sakura's house.

It wasn't a warm welcome. Sakura's parents had never tried to hide the fact that they hated him. Even when he returned, they still treated him like a shadow, or a servant when it suited them. If they accused him for what had happened to Sakura, he wouldn't blame them. He didn't forgive himself either.

"The keys are on the counter," Sakura's mother had said to him when he asked if he could stay in their house; they were the only words of welcome he received.

The keys belonged to Sakura.

When she was still alive, Sakura had never allowed him to carry his own set of keys. She had said that it was too dangerous. She barely trusted him with the daily chores; she definitely wasn't allowing him free access to her home. So, he always had to use her keys...with her permission of course. He only left and entered the house when she was with him, or if she was already home. He always had to knock and call for her to open the door for him.

Even as he clutched the keys in his hands, he couldn't let go of that habit. He kept thinking that she was waiting, that she would scold him for taking so long when she only told him to buy two things, that she would be standing to greet him when he opened the door. The empty house was almost too heavy to withstand.

Although she wasn't there anymore, he still had to do all the chores. With a tight grip on the heavy bags, he trudged forwards. Summoning scrolls were good for weapons. For food, it was too much of a hassle to seal the groceries at the store, or outside the store, then summoning them again when he returned home. It was a waste of chakra, and it was faster just to carry them. He wasn't exactly weak anymore. After losing Sakura... After those two weeks... He had finally wrapped his mind around humanity again.

Sakura would have yelled at him for being an idiot. Normal people didn't forget what it was like to be human. Sakura would have complained that he had taken too long. Then she would congratulate him.

The thought of what she would have done if she was still around was enough to make him dread that empty doorway waiting at the end of the trip. The keys weighing heavily in his pocket were just another reminder of what he had done. Sakura's keys... The keys that shouldn't be there... The keys that should be with Sakura...

He had wanted to kill them all, everyone, everyone in Konoha and everyone outside of Konoha. When he saw Sakura lying there, he couldn't stop himself. If only she had taken him with her, he wouldn't have to suffer through this loneliness again. But with a human body, there was only so much that he could do, and by the time he told Deidara to help him, Tsunade was already there. If only she had killed him instead of taking him back to Konoha...

_'Sakura.'_ When they dragged him away from her side, he already knew that she was dead. By then, her heart had stopped beating. By then, her warmth was already leaving her body. If she wasn't dead, Tsunade wouldn't have cut through her body to pull those kids out, as surely as if she was gutting an animal. Even blood didn't flow from that large wound, but then, that could be because of Tsunade's Shosen Jutsu holding the blood back.

"Sasori!"

That shout was almost enough to convince him that she was actually be there. It sounded just like Sakura, just like the voices he heard in his head when he walked through the village. As he looked at the people around him, as he turned to his side, he kept expecting to see her face, her smile, her pink hair in the faint wind. He kept expecting to hear her voice again, to hear her call his name, to say something that could ease his sorrow.

"What are you doing here!"

"Sakura?" The bags fell from his hands to the rain-soaked sidewalk as he turned toward the pink-haired girl behind him. His disbelieving hands reached reluctantly through the rain toward her, as if she was a mirage that would evaporate into the dim sun.

But before his fingers could touch her, she stepped back, lifting hard fists. "Step away from the house!"

Sasori stared at the drenched girl. For a moment, his mind refused to believe it. Every sense in his body rejected her cold words. Hadn't she told him that she loved him? Even if she had never given those words physical form, hadn't she already made her feelings clear? Those hands that had clutched him tightly as she struggled to breathe, as she tightened her grip around another moment to spend with him...those hands weren't an illusion. At that time, he wasn't imagining it. It was real! So, she had to remember him. This had to be a joke. This had to be a lie! The cold disgust on her face couldn't be real.

**A**s she wandered through the grey streets, her eyes flew over the sea of faces, searching for the image of someone she didn't know. Within her chest, the uneasy apprehension that had flourished in the hospital strengthened with every step. In her mind, the words passed through as her eyes landed on each face, '_No. Not him. Not him either!'_ And her chest would bleed painful loneliness.

What was she searching for, in that crowd of people? If she was looking for Sasuke, she already knew that he wouldn't be there. Long before she arrived in this thick sea of bodies, she already knew that the dark-haired shinobi wouldn't be there. Sasuke wasn't the kind of person she would find in this place.

As her feet carried her inevitably home, Sakura still hadn't found the person she was searching for. If she found him, she would know. She knew that she would know. If she had found him, this emptiness in her hollow chest would disappear. If she had found him, her eyes would draw instantly to...

...that red hair!

"Sasori!" She knew that it was him before she saw his face. Even though she knew that far away, in that cave in Kawa no Kuni, he was sealed, she knew that it was him. "What are you doing here!" And when she saw his face, there wasn't even a smudge of doubt staining her fists.

"Sakura?" The expression on the nukenin's face seemed genuinely surprised, then joyful, but she wasn't going to be fooled by fake emotions. A man like Sasori couldn't feel anything, especially not for someone who had once tried to kill him.

_'He followed me home?' _He had to be here for revenge!

"Step away from the house!"

Beneath the heavy clouds, the nukenin stared at her, almost as if confused, but Sakura wasn't going to let him trick her. He had made his personality clear in Kawa no Kuni. She leapt forwards before she could hear more.

"Sakura, what are you—" Her fist snapped against the rain-filled air where his head was a moment ago. "Sakura!" She wasn't going to stop, even if he looked confused. Even if he wasn't fighting back.

"What are you doing here!" Her wet arms swung around, smashing the afterimages of a man dodging her attacks. "I sealed you!" _'Who brought you back! Akatsuki? Orochimaru? Sasuke-kun? Who!'_ Her mind raced frantically as tried to drive him away from her house. "Who released you!"

"Who?" Sasori avoided her attacks, but he wasn't fighting her, and he wasn't moving away from the door. Even though she had asked him something like that, he still refused to fight her. "What do you mean?" His words were filled with his arrogance. "It was you!"

"Shannaro," she growled angrily at those words. They were all lies! Why would she bring someone like Sasori back! "Get away from my house!" She would remember if she did something so horrible!

"Sakura!" Sasori yelled frustratedly as he grabbed the girl's arm, pulling her off the ground. "What's wrong with you?" With water draining down the sides of his face, he stared at the girl, unable to understand what was happening. Her entire body tensed disgustedly at his touch. "I live here!"

"Here?" Sakura stared at him for a moment, her fists trembling angrily as the words seeped into her head. _'Living with Akasuna no Sasori?'_ She couldn't believe something so ridiculous! "Don't lie!" Her free hand smacked across his jaw, throwing him back and dropping her to the watery ground.

"Sakura," Sasori said as his back smacked against the locked door. His face hurt more than it should from a normal slap.

Sakura had slapped him before, during the time that they had spent together. Never had she used her full strength. Never had she meant to hurt him, as she did now. Never had she cut across his face and bruised him as she had done now. They were normal slaps. This wasn't a normal slap. It was a slap filled with her superhuman strength.

His hands reached up through the rain, grabbed her shoulders and shook the pink-haired girl. "Why can't you remember me!" She wouldn't even listen to him. How could he hold himself back when she wouldn't even believe his words? If she didn't stop hitting him, he wouldn't able to stop himself anymore. He would have to fight her!

He couldn't stop the panic spreading through his body. The memory of his parents was still firmly engraved in his thoughts. The panic of knowing that she would attack him at any moment—like his parents had attacked him, like his grandmother had attacked him, like Sakura had attacked him long ago when they first met—shook his body. The thought was enough to drive him insane. His shaking hands couldn't hold her shoulders any longer. Surely, she felt his nervous hands sweating through her clothes. Surely, she knew how much she was hurting him.

_'Sakura, tell me that you're lying.'_ His shaking emotions strangled the words from his throat, and he could only think the sentences he wanted to say. If only he didn't feel like this... If only he wasn't human, he could speak to her without this dread weighing his body, tearing at his chest, shaking him so thoroughly that he almost fell apart with a single painful glance at Sakura.

"What does Akatsuki want?" Her cold words landed on him, freezing him as she looked with emotionless eyes at his direction. "Naruto's not here." They were the final words that broke him, that cut through his denial until there was only the wounded carcass of a man staggering away.

"Of course," Sasori said as he released the girl. "We want to capture the jinchuuriki right?" Obviously, Sakura didn't remember him. She couldn't remember beyond that time when they were last together, when she had sealed him. If she killed him now, he wouldn't hold it against her. "He's definitely not in there." If she killed him now, he could die, along with her memories of him. _'Hurry, before I hurt you...' _...because everyone he had known and loved left him in the end. Because he could only curse them with death. Even Sakura almost died. "I'll just lea—"

"Sasori-kun!" Out of breath, Ino ran to the redhead. "I came here right away! Sakura's gon—" The blond girl stared at Sakura as she stopped. She hadn't noticed before, but as she stood there, next to the pink-haired girl, she clearly saw that it was Sakura. "Ah, but you probably already knew," she said nervously as she backed away from the electric tension flaring from the two shinobi. Her body prickled with the anticipation of an attack at any moment. If she spoke, a puppet or a heavy fist would smack into her.

"Ino, you knew?" Sasori's voice growled with suppressed fury. _'Was I the only one who didn't know?'_ He had suffered all this time, had blamed himself all this time, had locked himself away from the rest of the world thinking that he had killed her. All this time, she was in the hospital, and he didn't know it. All this time, while he was sitting in the prison, while he was slaving for her parents, he could have just walked the few blocks to the hospital and seen her. All this time, no one had bothered to tell him. Her parents, he understood if they didn't tell him. Sakura's parents hated him. Of course they wanted him to suffer. He understood Tsunade as well. After what he had done to Sakura, how he had hurt her, the Hokage didn't want him near Sakura again. He understood that.

But Ino...

She should have told him!

"Sasori-kun, don't glare at me like that," Ino said as she backed into the rain, as if the water could shield her from his anger. "Obasan and ojisan said not to tell you, and Hokage-sama said that it was too dangerous to tell you so soon." She had orders from the Hokage not to tell him. What was she supposed to do!

But no matter what excuse she gave, Sasori wasn't going to forgive her. Long ago, when she first met Sasori, Sakura had told her what he was like. Sakura had told her about his true personality, not just the fake face that he showed everyone else. Ino had never believed it more thoroughly than at that moment.

A useless woman like her wasn't going to be forgiven.

**W**hen Deidara heard what had happened, his first thought was that Sasori was insane. Who would want to be locked in prison when he could have freedom, the freedom to create beautiful art with whatever and whomever he wanted? All Deidara wanted was to avoid going back to that place: Iwagakure. If he returned, they would kill him. Dying certainly wouldn't lead to higher forms of art. The people in Iwa definitely didn't understand his art!

But the only way to avoid it now, as he sat waiting in the same prison where Sasori was only a day ago, was to escape. Somehow, without any clay in his hands, he had to escape.

"Are you listening to me? I said that Hokage-sama wants to see you," Neji repeated himself, but the nukenin was still just sitting there. His words held no trace of concern, as if it didn't matter whether Deidara appeared at the Hokage tower or not.

The truth was that he really _didn't _care. He just wanted to distance himself from this team, from Naruto's team, and their problems. They had dragged him into their personal problems more than once, and every time, he had to help them. This time was no different. This time, Tsunade had insisted. She didn't want the incident to spread panic around Konoha. Since he already knew about what had happened on the outskirts of Konoha, that there were so many S-ranked criminals in their village, he had to handle a lot of these tasks when there were so many chuunin capable of handling it. A jounin usually didn't do things like escorting criminals to see the Hokage.

When Neji dragged Deidara from his cell, he didn't resist or say anything. The blond nukenin was too absorbed in what he should do to escape from execution. What could he say to Tsunade to convince her to let him stay? Over the few months he had stayed in this village, he had enough time to analyze her, to understand her actions. He knew what he needed to say. All he needed to do was find the words to convince her!

And he knew what to say as soon as he saw her standing there. "You can't send me to Iwagakure, yeah!" He shouted at Neji as he reached through the rain and grabbed the blond girl. _'I better be right, yeah.'_ He stuck the girl into the jounin's face. "You can't send away a citizen of Konoha!" It was a stupid plan, but it was all he could come up with. Knowing Tsunade's reluctance to contact the antagonized Tsuchikage, it could actually work. "This is my sister, Ino, yeah!"

For those two weeks he was locked in that cell, the jinchuuriki's annoying words had irritated him. He hadn't thought twice about it when Naruto had first said it, but with all the free time he had in prison, his thoughts drifted through everything that had happened up to the moment of his capture. The jinchuuriki's words were ones that he kept stumbling over. _'Ino? Who's Ino, yeah?'_ To think that there was actually someone who looked enough like him to be mistaken for him...

The name was familiar, but he had never seen anyone resembling him while following Sasori around Konoha. But Sasori spent a lot of time by himself, hiding in strange places, creating poisons, and sculpting and equipping that same puppet day after day. Deidara didn't remember a lot of people's faces, but if he had come across someone named Ino, someone who looked like him, he would remember it! If he had seen someone who looked _that_ much like him, he would have killed him, even if it wasn't for the sake of art!

"You can't send me to Iwagakure, yeah!" Deidara shouted at the Hyuuga jounin. This girl looked...enough...like him. He just hoped that he was right.

"Ino, I didn't know you had a brother," Sakura said as she looked suspiciously at the blond nukenin. _'But I can't deny the resemblance.'_ They certainly looked alike. She wouldn't be too surprised if it was true.

"I don't have a brother," Ino said as she pulled herself from the stranger. "Don't touch me!" Ino turned enough to look at Deidara. Blond hair, tied not unlike her own. Blue eyes...although with a slight difference. He even smiled like her!

She was thoroughly disgusted.

"I understand if you want to emulate a _beautiful_ woman like me," Ino said with a confident smile. "But you're too ugly to pull off that look, ossan."

"What did you call me!" Deidara glared at the girl. She didn't just call him ossan! "I'm your brother! It's oniisan, yeah!"

"How heartless," Sasori intervened with a demonic smile. In Akatsuki, they had no real bonds to tie partners together. If Deidara died, Sasori wouldn't care. There was no reason for helping the blond nukenin with this desperate lie to escape execution. But the irritation on Ino's face was a worthy reason. Knowing that she would have to deal with Deidara was enough to make him speak. "You forgot all about your brother, Yamanaka Deidara?"

At the name, Deidara's stomach turned disgustedly. It was a horrible name. _'What kind of a stupid name is Yamanaka?'_ He was beginning to regret saying those words.

However, Neji didn't believe them. "Do I look that gullible to you?" He interrupted the argument before he could waste any more time. Tsunade was waiting for him.

"Yamanaka Deidara?" Sakura glared at Sasori. _'He's lying, with such an obvious lie!'_

"That's—" Deidara tried not to vomit through the words. "That's me," he managed to say with only a tiny, reluctant quiver of disgust in his voice.

Neji stared at them for a moment before deciding that it was best not to argue. All he was supposed to do was bring Deidara to Hokage tower. There were no instructions on whether he was deciding the nukenin's fate or not. "I don't care. You're all coming with me!" Let the Hokage deal with it. That was his plan.

If he tried to do anything with these four, he could catch whatever stupidity they had.

**T**sunade had nothing to do. After flipping through the fist half of the series of binders containing the names of all the currently active high-ranking kunoichi in Konoha, she wanted to take a break. She had spilled tea on the table, inadvertently scorching Hidan's chin and neck. He had yelled at her enough to ruin her concentration, and she had to take her break all over again. She decided to use him as a paperweight after thinking about what to do with him. Before she found a suitable kunoichi to take care of this S-ranked head, she couldn't leave him anywhere else. Orochimaru took up a corner of her office already and her office was beginning to grow more crowded.

Neji was taking too long. She couldn't stop thinking about the blank letter to the Tsuchikage.

"Hokage-sama," Neji said as he finally knocked on her door. He seemed reluctant to speak as he walked in.

And Tsunade made the mistake of asking him about it.

She almost collapsed at the words. _'Yamanaka Deidara?'_ They must have thought she was an idiot. She—like a lot of other high-ranking shinobi who had lived through the Great Shinobi War—knew Deidara's full name. He couldn't fool her! "And why is Sakura and Sasori here?" Tsunade tried not to break anything, even as her hand crushed the pen in her hand to a pile of powder on her desk. "Sakura should be in the hospital!" She didn't even want to know why Ino was there.

Not after what Neji had said about Deidara.

"You knew she was alive, damn useless woman!" Sasori shouted as soon as he heard Tsunade's words. She wasn't even surprised that Sakura was standing in her office!

"I'll pretend I didn't hear that, " Tsunade said as her hand pressed it's form into the surface of her wood desk. The pen had already ceased to exist in any recognizeable form. "But first, let me say this. Stop telling stupid lies, Deidara! I'm not an idiot!" She may be old, but she wasn't senile. There was no Yamanaka Deidara!

"You can't prove I don't exist, yeah."

Tsunade glared at the blond nukenin as her hand rammed through the desk, effectively smashing a hole through its surface. _'He's right.'_ She had never read through the hospital records, or asked Inoichi about it. For all she knew, he had a son named... _'No! Deidara's too old to be Inoichi's son!'_ But the letter she kept meaning to write to the Tsuchikage was still blank. She couldn't think of anything to write. And it wasn't as if Deidara was a threat to the village. Akatsuki would definitely kill him now that he had deserted them. _'No! An S-ranked criminal should be executed as soon as possible!'_ But they were already allowing Sasori to stay in Konoha.

Tsunade couldn't think of what to do.

"Hokage-sama, I don't have a brother!" Ino shouted. She was an only child. Tsunade shouldn't even be considering it!

"I left before you were born, yeah. Of course you don't remember me, Imouto-chan." He spoke as easily as if it was true. _'Because it's...ugh...true.'_ He tried not to show disgust on his face as he tried to convince himself.

"Neji, bring Inoichi here," Tsunade said as she glanced at Deidara's disgusted face. He wasn't hiding it well enough. "Sasori, take Sakura back to the hospital." She caught the angry glare from the redhead. "I'll talk to you about it later."

"You're going to leave me with him?" Sakura stared mortified at Tsunade. "He's Akasuna no Sasori, Tsunade-shishou!"

Tsunade sighed at the words. "He's harmless." She never thought that she would have to say those words.

This was going to be a long...long day.

"Hell, you better not be thinking about giving me to Deidara," Hidan shouted as he looked at Ino. Knowing Deidara, he would turn him into beautiful art, then neglect to sew his head back together afterwards.

"I'm over here, Hidan," Deidara said as he stepped into the head's line of vision. "This is my sister, yeah." Again, apparent disgust coloured his face.

"I don't want _her_ touching me either!" If she was a part of Deidara's insane family, she could blow him up too.

"Wait in the waiting room," Tsunade said with a sigh as she threw the irritating head against the wall. Hidan bounced across the floor before landing sideways against a pile of folders. She needed to look through the rest of the binders of kunoichi and get rid of Hidan before she neglected her work any more than she already was. "I'll call you when I'm free." With everyone in here, it was even more difficult to work. Deidara, Ino and Hidan sounded like they were entering an endless argument.

She just wanted time to finish her work, drink her tea, and get some sleep before Kotetsu and Izumo run in with more documents.

**S**asuke stared through the clear window to the other side of the wall. The nurses had told him that Sakura was okay and recovering upstairs, but he didn't care. She had kept her promise to him, and that was it. "Can we take him home now?" By his side, Naruto stared at the series of machines and seals that made up the incubator.

"No." Sasuke had already explained to Naruto that the baby was too weak for them to move. Being only seven months old, they needed to incubate him for at least the next two months, and check for birth defects and abnormalities before releasing him from the hospital.

"Can we see Sakura-chan?"

"..." Naruto always asked when they were in the hospital. Most of the time, he forgot that they had a baby here and ran upstairs as soon as he walked in. Naruto had a one-track mind like that. "Maybe later." It was his way of saying no.

Sasuke tried not to think about the other child he had lost. Sakura's carelessness had killed her. It was one of the reasons why he didn't want to see the pink-haired girl. He couldn't forgive her. His family was smaller by one member because of her.

He didn't even know that a technique like that existed. Killing herself to save someone...

Sasuke looked at the blond shinobi by his side.

Killing herself to save Naruto... He didn't know what was going through her head.

"What are you going to name him, Sasuke?" Naruto asked as he stared through the window. By then, he had forgotten about Sakura upstairs. "He needs a name!"

_'A name?'_ He hadn't though of it. "You think of one." He couldn't think of anything. He had never thought about it. "I know you want to name him." Unlike him, Naruto was that kind of person. To him, naming a child was troublesome, but to Naruto... Naruto actually wanted to do things like that.

"Yosh! I need books on names!" The blond shinobi turned and ran enthusiastically from the hospital, leaving Sasuke behind.

Naruto was like this too. He always ran ahead without thinking about him. Sasuke didn't know how he had managed to fall in love with someone like this. Always being left behind without a second thought...

"Sasuke! Hurry or I'll leave you behind!"

It was because Naruto knew that he would never be too far behind. "I'm coming," he said as he walked through the hospital entrance, past the redhead and the pink-haired kunoichi going in the other direction. He never noticed them as he walked by.

But Sakura saw him. Sakura saw him as Sasori pulled her unstoppably forwards. "Sasuke-kun..." She saw the crest of the Keimu Butai on his shoulder as he walked past her, and she knew that she was definitely forgetting something important.

Because she knew that although Sasuke was back, he wasn't a part of the Keimu Butai.

**End Chapter 33**

---------------------------

Fire's English tidbits for those who care:

Hm...how about the three sometime, some time and sometimes? I haven't explained something like this in a while. Anyway, all three are correct, but they have different meanings. Sometime refers to a particular, indefinite period of time in the future. "Jiraiya wanted to continue his research sometime, so he definitely wasn't becoming Hokage." By using sometime, the meaning of the sentence is that Jiraiya wasn't currently doing any research, but he plans to do it later. Sometimes refers to erratic time frames. For example, "Kotetsu came into the Hokage office sometimes, with even more documents." Sometimes refers to unplanned periods of time where Kotetsu would suddenly come into the office with more work. He can do it now, later, or not come at all. We just don't know. --;; Some time refers to an unspecified span of time. For example, "Sasuke had seen Naruto some time ago, but they were never alone." How long ago is unknown. Some time doesn't tell us when Sasuke had seen Naruto, just that it was past.

Fire's babbling:

Hidan: (angry) Who said you can cut me off!

Sasuke: What's a head going to do about it?

Hidan: (bites Sasuke)

Sasuke: That's supposed to hurt?

Fire: You're supposed to explain the difference between invincibility and invulnerability! Stop biting Sasuke!

Hidan: (spitting) Blegh! He tastes horrible!

Naruto: Really? (looks at Sasuke)

Sasuke: I'm not food! What am I supposed to taste like!

Naruto: Ramen?

Sasuke: ...

Hidan: --;; I don't want to know how he came to that conclusion.

Fire: Fine. I'll explain. Invincibility involves both the characteristics of invulnerability and immortality. To be invincible is to be immune to physical and temporal wear. That means that no external force can affect something that is invincible. As a quality of invincibility, invulnerability can never be the same. Invulnerability only means that a being is impervious to physical wear. This means that no physical force can affect it. So, something that is only invulnerable still grows old, gets hungry and can die... --;; ...as long as it's not by accident or caused by something or someone else. This means that even if I split Hidan's head in half—

Hidan: You're not doing that.

Fire: I said _if_ Hidan's head was split in half... --;; ...he still won't die. We can just put him back together again later. O.O;;; As amazing as that is...he definitely gets hungry, but starvation is a physical force so he won't starve. He'll just be very uncomfortable and become very languid. Um...that means tired. How did I end up explaining this? Hidan, you said you're going to explain!

Hidan: Your co-writer's pet was too damned disgusting!

Naruto: (confused) Who are you talking about?

Sasuke: Naruto's not my pet.

Fire: Anyway, there's just a few more chapters left, then this book is over! (throws confetti) I don't want to rush the end, but I've been writing this story for much too long, don't you think?

Sasuke: Over a year.

Fire: If only Pixel didn't crash... (sighs) ...this story would have ended months ago!

Sakura: You still haven't decided whether or not to upload the last book.

Fire: Um...if you don't read the last book, it's still okay. The story holds up on its own. The last book is kind of... --;; ...crazy. Everything gets turned upside down.

Itachi: ...

Fire: Get the hint? (points at Itachi)

Sasuke: I killed him! He's dead!

Naruto: (stares at Itachi) ...

Fire: Read the prequel, Wait for Me: Crystalline Mirage, and tell me if you want to see what Itachi was thinking when he—

Sasuke: I don't want to know!

Fire: Anyway, review. Tell me if there should be a sequel. Did this chapter make sense? It's supposed to be raining in this chapter. Did you feel the rain? I don't think there was enough attention to the rain. --;; What did you think?

Sasuke: I don't see the significance.

Fire: Do I have to explain the imagery and metaphor to you! Read the first book, Wait for Me: Leaving, and look for the parallelism between the two death scenes!

Kisame: Fire has gone insane.

Naruto: So, Itachi's not dead?

Sasuke: Stop looking at him! (grabs Naruto and drags him away)

Naruto: (still staring at Itachi) ...

Itachi: (walks after Naruto) ...

Fire: Well, don't study the story if you don't want to. It's supposed to be for entertainment. If you're studying it... --;; Um...I'll leave now. (walks away)

Hidan: Hey! Take me with you! Don't just leave me here, damn Fire!

---------------------------


	35. Thirty four: Resurgence of the Past

Fire: Waah. I'm going to collapse! (collapses on Kisame)

Kisame: Damn it.

Itachi: Audrey-san wants to know what I was thinking.

Fire: I guess I'll write it then. (sinks wearily to the ground)

Sasuke: What's wrong with raising _my_ son, Aurora-san?

Naruto: But Sakura-chan doesn't remember him!

Fire: Back to the 0.5 lives again? --;; Don't worry, Sekiryu-san. You're not the only one who asked. (sighs and sinks further into the ground)

Sasuke: I'm allowed to raise _my son!_

Fire: Actually, he's too young to do that. He's only 15 right now, um...16 since it's technically past his birthday. I didn't say who was raising Sasuke's son yet. Sasuke would probably neglect him and Naruto's a half-alive zombi...

Naruto: (staring at Fire) ...

Fire: Ahem. 0.5 lives, right?

Tsunade: Let me explain the medical content. First, in regards to Sakura's amnesia, it's partially from lack of oxygen to the brain and partially from shock. Remember that she was dead for a while before I arrived. Many of the cells in the brain had already begun to die. Then, I wanted to save the children first. Then, there is the shock of dying. It's the same thing that Naruto has. No one remembers their birth. Rebirths are the same. As for the children... I said that Sakura's body was cold but the children were still warm. In terms of physics, when there are two celestial points, point A and point B, connected by a straight line, the object at point A is a certain size, but when a third point, point C, intercepting the line betwen A and B, the object at point A seems larger due to their combined mass. In other words, the two kids were too close together so I can't tell if they were both alive or not. I assumed they were both alive at the time, so it comes out as children instead of child.

Fire: Aurora-san, you haven't read or watched YuuYuu Hakusho, right? --;; This is not easy to explain.

Sasuke: Stop bringing other fandoms into this!

Deidara: It's good that everyone understands my pain, yeah. Except for you! (glaring at Teges-san) It's not funny! You try being this thing's older brother! (pulls up Ino)

Ino: Thing? I'm not a thing!

Fire: Stop talking, you're confusing everyone!

Hidan: (reading Rini-san's review) Mashed potato?

Fire: If Hidan looked like that... (staring at Hidan) Pick on him all you want. (imagining Hidan as a pile of mashed potato)

Hidan: Stop that!

Kisame: You're getting sidetracked.

Fire: Waah! Okay, let's begin with basic cultural references―

Sasuke: We'll just write an essay. It's simpler. Read it at the end. It's going to be long. We've been explaining for the past two chapters. By the way, traditionally, in every part of the world up until the latest few decades, the father names the children, not the mother. Even if I didn't get to raise the child, I'd still have to name him.

Naruto: You said I was naming him!

Sasuke: ...

Sasori: EasilyAmusedReader-san, thank you for understanding my pain. (staring at Sakura)

Sakura: I told you I'd never love you. What did you expect?

Tsunade: Relating to the terms for miscarriage, Aurora-san, I think you're saying the same things as Fire. Sakura didn't unintentionally kill her kids. She knew that they were going to die, so it's not a miscarriage. She knew that the tensei would kill her and her kids, and she still used it. If it's an intentional death like that, it's not a miscarriage. And I would definitely not call an abortion. --;;

Fire: (pointing to Aurora-san's other review) Ahem, Tsunade.

Tsunade: I didn't fall for it. I wanted to make sure. Remember that I left the village for almost two decades. I know that he's an Iwa-nukenin, and I know that he's an S-ranked criminal, but I have to confirm that he's not speaking the truth. Many shinobi leave their villages and join rival villages, like Orochimaru. (thinks darkly about Orochimaru) I wasn't around when most of these kids were born, so the fact that he's a Yamanaka...might really be a fact. He was fighting against us, but that didn't mean that he wasn't originally from our village. What if Inoichi doesn't want me to kill him?

Inoichi: I always wanted a son.

Chouza: He always complained about having a daughter.

Shikaku: (nodding in agreement)

Deidara: I said I left the village before she was born. She wouldn't remember me anyway. I'm around Itachi's age, so you can't say it's not possible!

Fire: Actually, Tsunade wants to send Deidara back to Iwa. She just doesn't want to talk to the Tsuchikage since they're on bad terms. The Tsuchikage would probably say that she was hiding him or trying to assimilate him into her village and use it as an opportunity to attack Konoha.

Ino: I'm not ugly! I'm a beautiful―

Deidara: She looks just like me. Are you calling me ugly?

Ino: I don't look like a man!

Deidara: Since I'm older, _you're_ trying to look like _me_. I'm not trying to look like you!

Ino: I'm not!

Fire: Sasuke's not cruel enough to cut Sakura out of the child's life, but she doesn't remember him as her son. She really wants to be the mother of the Uchiha clan, so she'll probably help raise him anyway, but she wouldn't know that she was really the boy's mother. --;; Does that make sense? Naruto's too stupid to raise a child and Sasuke's too cold and uncaring. Sasuke would probably neglect him. He'd die before his first birthday! Waah! Don't let them near the baby!

Tsunade: That's why they shouldn't raise it. They're too young!

Naruto: Sandaime had jounin guardians for me up until I was old enough to take care of myself.

Sasuke: A nice way of saying that he was in an orphanage.

Naruto: I was not!

Tsunade: Yakitori-san, Sakura didn't forget _everything _from the last seven months. Her memory is fuzzy and she doesn't remember many events. That's all. --;;

Fire: I think we addressed everything. (sighs) I'm going to sleep now. Tobi, the next chapter!

Tobi: I thought I was dead. Why are you doing this to me? (pulls chapter 34 onto the screen)

---------------------------

**Chapter 34: Resurgence of the Past**

_**'T** he prince always came in the end. Where was he when the princess needed him the most? Where was he when she was suffering? Did he have to wait until the last moment, after she had endured it all, when she was about to break and die, to come and rescue her? The witch only wanted to protect her from that selfish man who only desired the glory of saving a girl. Any girl would have been enough. It didn't have to be the princess suffering in vain. It didn't have to be the princess who had already grown tired of life. If she had screamed and fought against his attempts to rescue her, would he still have saved her? Would he do it for the sake of love? Would he do it even though he didn't truly know her, when he had met her only a few moments before? Did he want to hold her calloused hands when she wanted to hide them? Did he want to touch that sun dried skin after she had spent so many days outside, toiling? Did he still want to rescue her after she had hit him, had cut him, had kicked him, had thrown him from her side? Did he still want to be with her after discovering that she had already forgotten him and the words of love she had once said?'_

**A** s soon as Sasori walked out of the hospital, he saw his target walking quickly towards the Hokage tower. There was no doubt that Tsunade had already summoned him. There was no other reason for Yamanaka Inoichi to walk so urgently. He had to stop him before he reached the administration building!

"Inoichi-san," Sasori called out without thinking. At that moment, his only goal was to stop him, but now that he had the jounin's attention, he didn't know what to do.

Deidara was an idiot. He didn't know why he was helping him. _'I want to torture Ino,'_ he reminded himself. To repay him for this favour, Deidara would definitely make Ino suffer.

"What is it?" Inoichi looked at Sasori with suspicion.

However, Sasori never intended to use words. He wasn't naive enough to think that the jounin would trust him. _'I have no choice. I'll have to use THAT technique.'_

He had created it long ago, but he had never had time to test it. He wasn't as eager to create new techniques as Orochimaru or Itachi. He never wanted to learn every existing ninjutsu in their living world. It was true that he collected them. Like Orochimaru or Itachi, he collected techniques, but he also collected the creator of those unique abilities along with their skills. He never really needed to learn them, just that the techniques existed was enough to call forth those abilities. After creating something like hitokugutsu, he lost any real interest in anything else.

"It's just some friendly advice," Sasori said as pleasantly as he could manage, "Inoichi-san." His hand rested on the Konoha-jounin's shoulder, partially so that he couldn't run away, partially to draw his attention, and partially to...

"Don't touch me." Inoichi backed away expectedly, pulling his shoulder away from Sasori. "I don't need your advice."

"Hn." Sasori pulled his arm back before speaking. "If you don't calm down first..." It wasn't a lot, but he had forced adequate chakra into Inoichi's body. "...how can you rescue your son?" He could actually test his new technique any time now.

**R** unning into Sasori like this, at this time when the Hokage had called him, was suspicious. That was partially why Inoichi was worried. The other part was Hyuuga Neji. The Hyuuga genius was a jounin. Jounin just didn't run small errands like this! Normally, the Hokage would have sent one of her chuunin assistants, or Shizune, or even a jounin under the administration branch of shinobi! Hyuuga Neji wasn't even in that department! And the way Neji just vanished without saying anything else worried him even further. He had wanted to ask what it was about, why the Hokage wanted to see him. If it was so important that she would send Neji, he had to rush to the Hokage tower right away!

Then, Sasori stopped him on the way there.

Truthfully, no one in Konoha trusted Sasori. Even though they all accepted that he was staying in their village and that there was no way to rid themselves of him, no one wanted to work with someone like him, someone who could rampage through the streets and kill innocent citizens...all for the sake of killing one person. Kakashi was an important part of Konoha. If Sasori could target him, he could target anyone!

There wasn't even a rational explanation for what he had done.

So, Inoichi wasn't against the idea that Sasori wanted to kill him. When he last saw Kakashi—right before the masked jounin left for _another_ long mission outside Konoha—he had asked him about the incident, out of curiosity. He had thought that Kakashi would at least have a small idea of why Sasori attacked him. Just because he liked Sakura wasn't a good motive. Sakura was in love with Sasori, right? Sasori shouldn't be jealous of someone who had the same affections as he did. But not even the grey-haired jounin knew why Sasori tried to kill him. Without a reason, anyone could be next.

"Don't touch me."

He could be next. The Suna-nin was definitely after him. For something.

"Hn." The ex-nukenin's face was too smug. "If you don't calm down first, how can you rescue your son?"

Inoichi remembered complaining about it to Chouza and Shikaku many times. He always envied them. They didn't have the problems he had. He had to deal with the many troubles of having a daughter. If only he had a son... It was ironic. As the Suna-nin's chakra sank into his brain, pushing all his memories from his head, he realized that Sasori was giving him exactly what he had wanted: a son.

**S**asori couldn't stop his hands from shaking, even though he tried. In that moment, he had accidentally released too much chakra into Inoichi's system and blocked out all of his memories. For a moment, he was a human vegetable, with no memories and no thoughts. _'Kuso.' _He couldn't control his chakra properly. At this rate, he could kill him, or rather, erase his past. _'I need to focus!'_ It wasn't easy filtering through a lifetime of memories. He didn't have a lifetime to truly see it all. The images flashed before his eyes all at once, almost instantly. _'Focus!'_ If only he wasn't in this weak human body... He could easily see everything clearly and implant the proper memories with this new technique if he was still in his puppet body!

"Son?" Slowly, Inoichi's glazed eyes returned to the present as Sasori released the jounin's withheld memories.

"If you don't hurry, Deidara will be sent back to Iwagakure." It was only a suggestion, but Sasori knew the effect it would take, as certain as if Inoichi was a loyal minion.

"I need to hurry!" Inoichi ran away, toward the Hokage tower before anyone could stop him.

Sasori only hoped that he had implanted the memories correctly. It wasn't as if he had tested it before. But he didn't have time to worry. He still had to deal with the memories of Inoichi's wife.

**W** hen they were finally alone, Sakura thought that Sasori would try to kill her. She was ready for an attack. But as soon as they stepped into her hospital room, as the nurses swarmed worried around her, as she kept expecting him to leap at her with a kunai in his hand, as she kept expecting a puppet to fly toward her, intending to kill her as surely as before, as that time when they first met, it didn't happen. All he did was tell her not to strain herself.

Then he left.

She almost couldn't stop herself. As he turned away, as his eyes left her, as she felt his presence fly from the room, she almost reached out and stopped him. Sasori... _'What's wrong with me!'_ She didn't understand! She didn't understand why she had wanted him to stay, even though the thought of his feigned benign personality was enough to make her want to slit his throat.

But it was true. As she stared at the ceiling of her empty hospital room, she allowed herself to admit it. She hadn't noticed until he was gone. When he was with her, somehow, the emptiness in her chest had faded away. Now that he was gone, that void throbbed even stronger, eating away the warmth of her body. As she sat up, alone in the hospital again, the dark night beyond her four protective walls only made the room more suffocating. It increased her disappointment. When she looked around, she had expected to see... The room was empty. No one could have been there, but...

Sakura closed her eyes against that reality. Even at home, she was alone. If no one was there, it shouldn't make a difference. It wasn't as if her parents would be sitting there. The hospital would never allow them to stay. They definitely weren't whom she was expecting to see.

They weren't whom she was waiting for.

Beyond her window, the night sky was heavy with thick rainclouds. The wet rush of falling rain filled the silent room. Sakura knew that there wouldn't be any visitors at this time of night. The hospital didn't allow visitors at this time, not even family. They were strict about the recovery of their patients, especially skilled shinobi like her. But when she finally gathered the courage to look around the small room, she kept thinking that...

Pain throbbed through her chest. She was alone. He really wasn't there.

"Sleep! Do you know what time it is?" For a moment, she thought she had imagined the irritated words. There was no one in the room with her. She couldn't be hearing a real voice! But the warm hands forcing her head onto her pillow were real. Illusions couldn't be so solid.

For a moment, she allowed herself to think that...

"Sa—"

"Hontou ni baka, Naruto-wa," Sasuke grumbled under his breath as he stepped back and sat down in one of the two bare chairs in the room.

Sakura stared at the dark-haired shinobi. "—s'ke-kun?" The words in her head flew instantly away at the name whispered from her careless lips. _'No. What was I going to say?'_ She couldn't remember the name anymore. There was only the lingering loneliness, the buzzing irritation, the knowledge that this wasn't who she had wanted to see, who she had expected to see.

"Hn." Sasuke leaned back, ignoring his former teammate's stare. "Do you know how much trouble you are?" His voice held scornful annoyance. "Just sleep, Sakura!" With his authority as a member of the Keimu Butai, he had barely made it into the hospital. Tsunade had set up intense security after Sakura's last escape.

Sasuke had tried not to show his emotions, but his words still sounded as if they were shivering. _'Why?'_ As he watched the pink-haired girl sink toward sleep, he couldn't understand it. _'Naruto, why are you still thinking about her?'_

_From outside, the library didn't look big, but there were already too many books inside for Sasuke to read in his lifetime. Even if he spent every waking moment sitting with a book in his hand, it was impossible. There was even a shelf of books filled only with names. Before this day, Sasuke didn't think that something like that existed in Konoha._

"_I found it!" Naruto shouted as he grinned triumphantly at Sasuke. After hours of scanning silently through the large stack of books by his side, Naruto found the name he was searching for. "The perfect name! Ano-sa, ano-sa, Sasuke, what do you think?"_

_For a moment, Sasuke stared at the name Naruto had written down before saying simply, "No." He definitely wasn't naming his son that! "We're not naming him Ramen." Naruto was an idiot._

"_But look!" Naruto held up the book he was reading. "It says Gohan. It's perfectly normal!"_

_Sasuke grabbed the manga out of Naruto's hands and threw it to the edge of the table. "It's not normal. Search seriously, Naruto!" It seemed as if he would have to name his son after all. He couldn't trust Naruto with something so important._

"_Sakura-chan wouldn't have said no," Naruto complained as he grabbed a thick book from the pile. He flipped it open and read a page before silently mumbling, "I hope she's okay."_

At the time, only earlier that day, Naruto hadn't mentioned anything to him, but he was definitely worried. The jinchuuriki probably didn't realize that he had heard him. Naruto's memory was still blurry. He often forgot about things that everyone else knew. It was probably a side effect of being dead for long periods of time, but Naruto was like that even when he was still alive. Sasuke wasn't even sure if Naruto knew that he had said those words. If he had asked him about it, the blond chuunin would probably stare blankly at him and ask him what he was saying. Naruto probably wouldn't understand that he was thinking about Sakura again, that he was worried about her. In spite of not remembering that she was in the hospital, he was still worried about her.

He still loved her.

As Sasuke stood over Sakura, the desire to hurt her, to make her suffer, filled his body. Naruto was his! Sakura had no place in Naruto's heart!

But he couldn't do it. If he hurt her, it would only hurt Naruto. He couldn't do it. Even though he sat in the same suffocating room as Sakura, he couldn't bring himself to make Naruto sad, to face Naruto's tear-stained face. He wanted to ease the worries seeping through the blond shinobi's memories. That was why he was here. He had to remember that.

"Sakura," he said slowly as his mind drifted through his thoughts. If he changed the subject, or talked, he could make those dangerous emotions fade. "If you..." He never intended to ask her, but this was something that would probably make Naruto happy, because all Naruto thought of was Sakura, was what Sakura thought, was what Sakura wanted. "What would you name a child?"

For a moment, silence deafened the air, pulling all sound stagnant. In the lone darkness, Sakura smiled peacefully to herself. "It's obvious." She had been in love with Sasuke for too long not to have thought about it. She had the same dreams as all the other girls chasing after him. There was no name other than the one she had chosen. Even though she knew that she would never have a chance to use it, there was no other name suitable for Sasuke.

**T** he cold night wind carried the colder rain over his body, but Naruto still sat motionless at the edge of the walkway, staring into the small garden. He was forgetting something. He knew that he was forgetting something. But he was always forgetting something. Since he awoke, since that confusing day on the outskirts of Konoha, he couldn't even hold a thought for more than a few moments before it fluttered away. It was irritating. Even as he sat alone, watching the rain, watching the red rainclouds filtering stained light into the garden, he annoyed himself. He couldn't remember what he was thinking about. Again.

Earlier that week, he had tried to find Kakashi. He had run all over the village, looking for him. Then, two hours later, he remembered. Tsunade had told him earlier that morning. Kakashi wasn't in Konoha. He had left for another mission. It was too painful for him to see Sakura and Sasori. That was what Tsunade had said.

Naruto didn't understand any of her words, but that was what Tsunade had said.

However uncertain his memories were, they were always clearer when he was with Sasuke. He didn't understand most of what everyone tried to tell him, but Sasuke always took the time to explain it...slowly...in simple terms. Of course, he didn't like spending hours cleaning and organizing all his boxes and all the contents of his boxes, but Sasuke never complained about filling the kitchen with ramen, even though it was small enough without adding another two walls of boxes. So, he never complained about Sasuke's preferences either. Sasuke always took that extra time to accommodate his needs and his habits. He couldn't make himself shun him.

Then, there was Sakura. When he cleared his mind, she was there. When he concentrated on anything, her face appeared. He couldn't forget her, even if he tried. When Sasuke frowned so pitifully, as he had done earlier that day when they were at the hospital, Naruto pretended that he had forgotten about her condition. But he really wanted to see her. He wanted to see if she was okay. He had to confirm it with his own eyes that she was alright. The sight of her dead body, lying in a pool of blood, was burned into his memory. How could he forget something like that?

He didn't know how to choose between them. How could he choose between them! All he wanted was to return to the days of long ago, to the days when they were all genin together. They were happy then. He didn't know how they had become like this. He couldn't remember. He didn't know how Sakura had almost died, how Sasuke had left his corner of the world to become a member of the Keimu Butai, how... He didn't understand the memories of his death.

As he stared at the rain, he remembered the grey rain of long ago. At that time, his tightening breath, the pain in his chest, the cold sensation of blood leaving his body, the fuzzy thoughts of Sasuke, all of it was filled with terror. And it wasn't filled with terror. At that time, when he told Sakura to leave him alone, when the Kyuubi's chakra burned across his body, only to hemorrhage his lungs further, he almost saw Sauske waiting for him. It was...comforting.

Naruto didn't want to forget that memory. He wanted to hold onto Sasuke for as long as he could before he left him. Because he was still an idiot... Because even now, he was weak... Because his memory was disintegrating... And ultimately, because he wasn't a girl... Naruto knew that he could never fulfill Sasuke's dreams. Because Sasuke definitely wanted a big family... He wanted children. Because even if Naruto tried, he could never give that to him...

Sasuke would definitely leave him one day.

**D**eidara was prepared to escape as soon as Inoichi told the Hokage that he didn't have a son. The Iwa-nin just didn't understand what had happened, how he had ended up like this. _'Sasori-sama! I know that you did this, yeah!'_ He didn't know how Sasori managed to do it, but he knew that it was definitely the puppetmaster who had driven him to this hell. The entire Yamanaka family—excluding the loudmouth girl—believed that he was the eldest son!

If he didn't leave soon, he would definitely kill himself.

"I can't believe you decided to come home," Inoichi said annoyedly as he stared at Deidara from across the table. "Do you think we'll forgive you? Do you think we won't be angry?"

_'What did you put in their heads, yeah!'_ Deidara tried to ignore them. It was bad enough that he had to eat dinner with them.

"So, I really have a brother?" Ino tried not to notice the family resemblance. "Why didn't anyone tell me!" She tried not to notice that no one was listening to her.

"Say something!" Inoichi shouted at Deidara.

"What is there to be angry about, yeah?" The Iwa-nin ate faster, cramming the food into his mouth. The sooner he finished, the sooner everyone went to sleep, and the sooner he could escape from this place.

"Did someone hit you in the head while you were gone?" Inoichi stared at his son. "You ran away from home and became an S-ranked criminal."

"It was for the sake of art. You wouldn't understand, yeah."

"You always say that." Inoichi's words came casually, as if it was true, as if he truly knew that Deidara said those things all the time.

_'Sasori-sama, what DID you put in their heads?!'_ At this point, he definitely had to leave this place. "O..." He forced the next words out of his mouth as smoothly as possible without shouting with frustration. "O...tou...san..." He had to change the subject! "Why are _they_ here?" He gestured to the silver-haired head on the table. Eating with Hidan's head by his side wasn't appetizing.

"Do I look like I _want_ to be here, kuso okama!"

"I'm a man, damn it!" Deidara stabbed his chopsticks into Hidan's head. A moment later, he grabbed the replacement pair brought from the kitchen by his mother.

"I thought Hidan-chan would miss his friends," Anko said with a sly smile as she crammed a piece of meat into Hidan's mouth before he could shout back at Deidara. "Now he's happy." She smiled, as if she wasn't torturing him.

"Kuso," Hidan mumbled under his breath. After eating disgustingly sweet dango and drinking bland tea all day—because Anko didn't feed him anything else, not because that was the only thing she ate and drank—he couldn't complain about the food. "Deidara's not a friend. He's a damn fucking traitor!"

"I _said_ you're _happy!_" Anko growled as she pulled Hidan up by the hair and forced tea down his throat. It leaked onto the floor from the neck down, but no one wanted to step in and stop the crazed tokubetsu jounin. "You're happy!"

"I never said anything like that, damn crazy woman!" Hidan shouted through the tea.

"Crazy?" Anko's eyes darkened, her mouth pulling into the serpentine grin characteristic of her sensei, Orochimaru. "I'll show you how crazy I am, Hidan-chan!" And Anko rushed out of the room before anyone could say, "Gochisou-sama."

"Don't look at me," Ino said as she caught Deidara's glare. She knew that he was accusing her. After all, she had brought them into the house. "They invited themselves." But they were the ones that announced they were staying for dinner.

After Anko and Hidan left, they had an infinitely more peaceful meal.

**S** asori already knew that the hospital didn't allow visitors at this time of night, but he didn't care about their rules. He would find a way in. He couldn't stay in the house anymore! Sakura's parents were even worse after he discovered their attempts to hide Sakura. At this point, they were actively trying to drive him from Konoha.

But it wasn't going to work. He wasn't going to let it happen. He refused to leave Sakura again! _'Even if you hate me...'_ Even though she wanted to kill him, he knew those were her true emotions.

Then Deidara fell from the sky, into his arms.

He stared at the blond man for a moment before dropping him to the ground. "Deidara, what are you doing?" His determination wrapped tightly around his anger as he spoke. He didn't have time to spare. He had to hurry to the hospital before the night passed, before dawn came, and before he wasted even more time away from her.

"Escaping, yeah." The Iwa-nukenin glared at the redhead, as if it should have been obvious. "What kind of insane memories did you plan in those people, Sasori-sama?"

Sasori looked around the make sure no one had seen him... "Only that you're their son. I duplicated the fuzzy memories of Ino's birth and wrote the date as your birthday. That's all. They made up the rest." ...before continuing toward the hospital. "You shouldn't run away from home. You'll worry your parents." That was all the time he could spare for Deidara.

"They're not my parents, yeah!" Deidara understood that expression on Sasori's face. That smug expression hid the twisted plan torturing him. In the past, it had happened too often for Deidara to forget. "What..." Sasori was already far away before he could ask. _'What do you want me to do here, yeah?'_

But the truth was, Sasori didn't have to tell Deidara what he wanted him to do. Ino, being the person that she was, being someone that needed almost constant attention, could never handle having a sibling. All he had to do was keep Deidara there, and he would torture her with neglect.

Sasori didn't have time to spare for such meaningless explanations.

**W** ithin her room, Tsunade slept peacefully. There were a few unexpected events. She didn't think that Inoichi would admit that Deidara was his son. Even though she knew that it was a lie, Inoichi really seemed to believe it. She would let it slide for the time being. It wasn't a danger to have Deidara in her village for a while longer.

As for everyone else, after dealing with Hidan, she would rather just let them sort it out on their own. She was too far behind in her work. Kotetsu, Izumo, Raidou, Aoba, and everyone else assisting her―especially Shizune―would never let her leave her office again if she allowed those piles to grow any larger.

**End Chapter 34**

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**Theories around Life and Half a Life**

Fire: If you're here, you're interested in this explanation, otherwise, scroll down.

Tsunade: This is going to be difficult.

Fire: Open your minds and try to understand this difficult concept. I'll try to make it as simple as possible without being too technical.

----

First, a brief overview of how half a life can exist. In terms of time, the greater time in general is infinite. Halving something that is infinite, leaves something that is infinite. So infinite time x ½ infinite time. However, in terms of a human lifespan, we're talking about relative time, which is finite. Humans don't live forever. To use a tensei technique is to think in the fourth dimension, so in terms of the fourth dimension, if you take a finite time and halve it, you have half of that finite time. For example, 400 years x ½ 200 years. If you've read Death Note, it touches on these concepts. Go and read it. There are only 13 volumes and less than 200 chapters.

That was life in terms of time. Now, to add to the confusing concepts, we're not talking about time. If Sakura was only transferring time, Naruto wouldn't be able to return since he and the Kyuubi's lives are synchronized. When Naruto dies, the Kyuubi dies with him unless he is removed from the jinchuuriki prior to death. In that case, the Kyuubi won't die. However, being a youma, the Kyuubi's natural lifespan is much greater than a human's lifespan. In Japanese mythology, a nine-tailed fox gains nine tails after 1000 years of meditation. That means that that Kyuubi is already over a thousand years old! To confine him to human time is cruel.

So, in terms of life, there is a second concept. A person's life is not only measured in time―physical life―but there are also experiences achieved over a lifetime―during the time when that person is alive―and the bonds created by those experiences. In other words, if a person changes the choices made in their life, their life would change, so they would be experiencing a different life. It wouldn't be the same. If it's thought of that way, Sakura would have to give up half of her memories to make up half her life. To explain which memories were taken away, the most fragile and unprotected memories are the most recent memories. As with Alzhiemer's disease, the newest memories fade away first, before the older memories. If that is taken into consideration, Sakura would _never_ remember Sasori again since she traded it away for Naruto.

Now to get away from scientific explanations like the last three paragraphs, I'm going to go into religion. Don't say that I didnt' warn you. I said, in the last chapter that there will be many different concepts put into this. Anyway, although most religions don't agree on a lot of points, most religions agree that there is an unknown eternal force in the human body that creates sentient life. Call it a soul, spirit, ka, yuurei etc, there is a word for it. Anyway, in terms of that, it should the same concept as astral projection. In astral projection, technically, a person's soul leaves the body, but the body doesn't die, right? Souls are dynamic substances. There is no such thing as half a soul, so in the end, if Sakura loses half her soul, as long as she has the other half, the lost half would eventually merge back together. --;; I'm not explaining this part right. Think of a soul as a magnet. There is a north and a south pole creating magnetic fields―the soul's aura―around the magnet. If you cut the magnet in half, the resulting half is still a north and a south pole. And as with the magnet, the two halves would attract each other through their magnetic fields and rejoin to form a single magnet again. However, since a soul is dynamic, it would mend the cut as opposed to staying two separate entities. Was that too scientific again?

Okay, another concept of life is from Western philosophy, which is based mostly on the philosophies of Rene Descartes' _Discourse on Method._ I'm not sure if any of you have studied philosophy but it's the concept of what is alive and what is not alive, created back in the early to mid 1800s. I don't remember the exact date. It has been a while since I read those books. --;; Anyway, according to Descartes, to be alive is to be aware of one's own existence. Ie. I think therefore I am. I exist because I know I exist. I am alive because I am aware that I am alive. However, the flaw is "I think therefore you are." Descartes also leads to the ideas that a person is alive because others know that person is alive. When a person doubts his existence, he doesn't necessarily die. If a person believes that he isn't alive, when that belief is blurred, that―in relation to Descartes―can be deemed half a life. Ie. I don't think therefore I am not.

Finally, in relation to the Naruto manga, and not YYH. --;; Naruto and Sasuke shouted at me for it. Anyway, in volume 31 chapter 274, Chiyo brings up the concept of life energy. When Sasori stabbed Sakura, Chiyo used her tensei technique to save Sakura. Specifically, she said, "Onore no seimei enerugi-o sono mama wake ataeru tensei ninjutsu ja." Translated: I'm giving a part of my own life energy through this tensei ninjutsu. At the time, Sakura wasn't dead so Chiyo didn't die as she stated in chapter 275, "dakara washi mo kono teido de sunda no ja." Translated: So, I also managed this standard. Ie. Sakura wasn't dead, so I didn't die either. This is not the same as "seishin enerugi" or spiritual energy used in creating chakra. --;; Masashi-sensei clearly states "seishin enerugi" and "seimei enerugi" in the raw manga, using different terms. But that's beside the point. Chiyo used part of her life energy to prevent Sakura from dying, and used it fully to bring Gaara back to life. In a sense, she used half her life to rescue Sakura and a full life to bring back Gaara. --;; I hope that was comprehensive.

Now, you're wondering why Sakura still died? Remember that by the time Gaara was revived, Chiyo was already dead. She didn't have time for long speeches, as Sakura did in her death scene. The tensei didn't kill her. So what did? Did you remember what Tobi did before he died? He stabbed her through the chest. That was her reason for using the tensei. She was already going to die, so she wanted to do something for Sasuke. She already knew that she was going to take the kids with her. --;; Bad way of saying it, but it's true. In that sense, Tsunade's rescuing Sakura from death wasn't a great feat. All she had to do was stop the bleeding, heal the lungs and restart the heart. As long as the brain hadn't suffered major necrosis―ie the cells hadn't all died―Sakura should be fine...for the most part. --;;

----

Fire: That was my short explanation on what is life and whether or not half a life is possible. I hope that clarified a few things.

Tsunade: In other words, if Sakura wasn't already dying, she would have survived. Lives are rounded up, remember?

Fire: I already said that in the last explanation. --;; 1.5 lives. There is no such thing as part of a life so the answer is rounded up, like a radical in math.

Sasuke: (sleeping) ...

Naruto: (confused) I don't get it.

Sakura: Um...I don't want to know what kind of gutting Tsunade-shishou did to my body. Can we stop talking now?

Fire: Short explanation. Very enlightening, right? Anyway, if you're still confused, tell me and I'll try to elaborate more.

---------------------------

Fire's English tidbits for those who care:

For those of you who haven't studied Shakespeare, here's something interesting from the play of Romeo and Juliet. Okay, two interesting things. --;; Brace yourself. First, Juliet's name is Juliet, pronounced with a short "t" at the end; however, with Romeo being in love with her, he lengthens the "e" to soften the "t" in Juliet's name and pronounces it Juliette. Everyone else uses standard pronounciation. Second interesting thing comes from actual English. Um...not that the first part wasn't interesting, but this is an _English _tidbit, not a playwrighting tidbit. Anyway, in her famous soliloquy where she says, "Wherefore," the meaning of that word from middle English is "why" not "where." --;; It's not that confusing, right? So, as an example, "Wherefore art thy hat crooked?" would be translated as "Why is your hat crooked?" "Wherefore" means "why." "Art" is the second person conjugation of "to be" which was replaced with "is" and "thy" is the second person possessive replaced with "your" in standard, modern English.

Fire's babbling:

Sasuke: --;;

Fire: A small explanation first about this chapter.

Naruto: I was reading Dragonball Z.

Fire: Earlier in this chapter, Naruto was reading a manga. The name he pointed to was "Gohan," who is the son of Son Goku, the main character of Toriyama-sensei's Dragonball series. It's not in the glossary, but I'm referring to a parallelism. Naruto wants to name his son Ramen while Goku named his son Gohan. Gohan is japanese for meal or cooked rice. It's probably not the same kanji since it's a japanese pronounciation of a chinese name, so only those who understand Japanese and has an English mind will understand this joke.

Sasuke: They haven't read it yet.

Fire: Waah! No!

Naruto: This isn't the Dragonball fandom.

Fire: But it's a good joke!

Kisame: I'm not laughing.

Fire: It would be scary if you were laughing. You only laugh when you're killing people.

Kisame: ...

Itachi: At the end of the prequel, I was―

Fire: Don't tell them! That's for the last book in this series!

Sasuke: I killed you! Stay dead!

Fire: You wouldn't believe what happened to him.

Itachi: I'm not dead.

Sasuke: Yes you are!

Naruto: (staring at Itachi) ...

Sasuke: Stop staring at him!

Naruto: But you're going to leave me anyway.

Sasuke: Stop thinking stupid thoughts! I'm never―

Fire: That's it for this chapter. It was late because I spent some time writing the Life theories. --;; And they're not finished snce I only spend an hour and a half on it. It's all from the top of my head. Sorry if it's confusing. They're complilations of only a few weeks of research. I usually get bored of something right away and stop studying it. I learned a lot of this stuff years ago, when I was still in high school.

Sasuke: Fire has unofficial ADD. I mean, all forms of media has become too boring and predictable so we write stories. --;; Get the idea?

Fire: Anyway, remember to review and tell me your thoughts. Did that explanation make sense? Do you think Hidan should stay in Anko's care?

Hidan: Hell no! Are you insane! I wanted a―

Anko: (stuffing Hidan into her kunai pouch) Hokage-sama said I can use him as a paperweight, but he'd make a better kunai, right?

Fire: Someone tell her that Hidan's not a kunai!

Sakura: What's wrong with you! (shaking Fire) I don't love Sasori!

Fire: But you're thinking about him!

Naruto: If no one has noticed, I'm pushing Sasuke toward Sakura... (crying) ...because I want them to be happy together.

Fire: Yeah. That. --;; You'll really notice it in the next chapter. Naruto's rejecting Sasuke before Sasuke can leave him! Well, see you next chapter! And review!

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	36. Thirty five: Memories of an Apparition

Fire: --;; Sorry Teges-san. You seem to always review right when I'm about to upload. First, let me explain what has happened.

Sasuke: Fire's grandma is in the hospital.

Fire: You're too blunt!

Tsunade: Administration work. Fire has been dealing with all the hospital business since April 3.

Fire: My grandma had a mild heartattack, high blood sugar, and fluid in her lungs when I brought her in. --;; I'm the most competent member of the family, so I've been handling everything. Everyone else lacks common sense.

Naruto: But Fire has practically no common sense either. It's just that—

Fire: I understand how to handle emergency situations. Anyway, I'll try to keep the chapters coming steadily, but I've been pulled to the hospital on all the days I have off of work, and there's exams. (cries) I need more time!

Tobi: (patting Fire on the back) Here! This should cheer you up. (hands Fire a review)

Fire: Um...Hidan should stay in—

Hidan: Hell no!

Anko: Hokage-sama doesn't trust him with anyone else, so I don't think Hidan-chan will be going anywhere, Audrey-san.

Fire: --;; Doesn't anyone think she's abusiv— (gets hit in the back by Anko) O.o;;;

Anko: Right, Fire-san?

Fire: Um... Next review. (grabs another review from Tobi and sighs)

Hidan: (insulted) Do I _look_ like a robotic head?

Sasuke: EasilyAmusedReader thinks so.

Naruto: (crying) Waah! I was right! Sasuke's going to leave me! Teme!

Sasuke: I have no intention of leaving Naruto.

Anko: I'm the beautiful Zev.

Fire: Doesn't that make Kai... (stares at Kakuzu)

Kakuzu: Dead and practically invincible.

Fire: If no one understands that, at least EasilyAmusedReader-san does. --;; It's a Lexx-related comparison.

Tobi: I have no idea what that is. (hands Fire and another note)

Sakura: I love Sasuke-kun! Why can't you understand that, Yakitori-san!

Sasori: This is called denial. She stopped loving him long ago.

Sasuke: And the amnesia?

Sasori: She's still in denial.

Sasuke: ...

Sai: I'm returning to the storyline for a bit.

Fire: That has nothing to do with this review.

Sai: They have nothing more to say.

Fire: Tobi!

Tobi: (pulls out Soda-san's long review) ...

Fire: Um...I'm still _trying_ to hug Kisame, but he ran away a few chapters ago and left me with Hidan. --;; So, after Anko grabbed him, I'm left with nothing to hug. (looks around) Kakuzu-san, can I hug you?

Kakuzu: No.

Fire: See?

Tobi: You can hug Tobi. I like hugs.

Fire: Um...no.

Sasuke: I can't repeat myself enough. I'm not leaving Naruto! Soda-san, you should understand that sometimes, achieving part of a dream is better than achieving the whole dream.

Naruto: He'd be miserable if he left me. I'LL _MAKE_ YOU MISERABLE!

Sasuke: ...

Fire: Why doesn't anyone think about the poor baby? His fathers are running around, and his mother's insane. --;; And his stepfather wishes he was a puppet. That's going to be one screwed up childhood.

Naruto: Soda-san, Fire doesn't have spring break in April. There are exams in April. University students have reading break, and that was in February.

Tsunade: No! Soda-san has stolen Orochimaru from my office! Raidou! Genma! Aoba! Stop her!

Orochimaru puppet: (sitting in Tsunade's office) ...

Fire: Um...I think that Soda-san took his soul away. You have the puppet, Tsunade.

Tsunade: I need the soul too! (runs after Soda-san)

Fire: Anyway, I'll be leaving now. Sorry about the long wait. My grandma gets discharged from the hospital on the 20th, so I don't have to do much with the hospital anymore. That means more time. I used up a whole month to deal with everything.

Tobi: (plopping the chapter on the ground) Where do I put this, Fire-sama?

Fire: On the screen! I already told you before!

Tobi: (stares at the screen before pasting the chapter on it) ...

---------------------------

Announcement: For those of you who didn't read properly, Fire is piled high with work. (sniff) Those of you who have never dealt with the government and hospitals...consider yourselves lucky. Most families need at least two or three people to handle the hospital papers alone. What does that say to you about the kind of paperwork that Fire has to work on?

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Announcement: Golden Week is here again! That means no chapter for the first week of May. I'll return with a double chapter release, I promise! At least two chapters!

**---------------------------**

**Chapter 35: Memories of an Apparition**

_**'I** tried to hug the reckless wind that protected everyone but himself. I tried to touch the wind, but he always slipped through my fingers. He always smiled sadly, as if he knew he had to leave me behind. I tried to hug the perfect fire that shone from the heavens. I tried to touch the fire, but he always burned my arms. He always watched apologetically, as if he knew he had no choice but to leave me behind. This futile human body doesn't belong in the sky. This heavy body doesn't harbour enough strength. I still can't find the part of myself that can turn around, look away from the wind and the fire, and admit that I no longer belong by their sides. I still can't find the part of myself that remembers how to see the one trying to hold onto me.'_

**T**hey stopped him as soon as he walked onto hospital grounds. He had expected Tsunade to put a few shinobi there, to keep an eye on Sakura, but he didn't expect so many people. Konoha Hospital was a fortress. Not only the ANBU who were directly under Tsunade's command but also members of the Keimu Butai were everywhere. He had no other choice. He couldn't fight them. That would only draw more attention. That would only give Tsunade more reasons to send him away, to keep him away from Sakura.

But he wasn't weak enough to let ordinary humans stop him. Even in a weak human body, he could still slip effortlessly by. However, the one shinobi guarding Sakura's room wasn't any ordinary human. He knew the exact moment that Sasori stepped into the building.

"She's sleeping." Though the florescent hospital halls, Sasuke's black eyes chained Sasori's movement. "Stop coming. She doesn't want to see you." He knew exactly what Sasori didn't want to hear.

But Sasori wasn't listening. "I don't care if she wants to see me or not," the Suna-nin said stubbornly as he pried his arms away from the dark-haired shinobi's freezing stare long enough to reach for the door. But Sasuke's hand shot out, grabbing Sasori's wrist and locking it tightly before he could slide the door open. "Sakura will remember me if I'm by her side," Sasori argued, as if Sasuke was listening, as if he truly believed those words. He couldn't _not_ believe those words. If Sakura never remembered him... If she never remembered...

"Come back tomorrow, during visiting hours." Sasuke wrenched Sasori's arm away from the door, spinning him toward the wall. The redhead couldn't defy him. He was nowhere strong enough to fight him in human form. If he was still a puppet, Sasori had a chance of overpowering him, but at this point, Sasuke knew that he would definitely win.

And Sasori knew it as well. He could only glare helplessly at the dark-haired chuunin. "You don't even care about her!" He just didn't understand why Sasuke was doing something like this. "Why won't you let me see her!" There was no reason for him to keep them apart.

"Lower your voice. You're in a hospital." Sasuke didn't even answer the Suna-nin's question. "Leave!"

_'Leave?'_ Anger boiled through Sasori's chest. He didn't have his puppets anymore; Tsunade had taken them away as soon as they returned to Konoha. And he couldn't fight effectively without his puppets, but he was definitely stronger than Itachi's _little_ _brother._ He wasn't leaving!

Even without puppets, he could kill this dark-haired brat.

"Hn." Sasuke saw the anger long before Sasori threw the first kunai. "We're in a hospital, Akasuna no Sasori." He caught the kunai before it could fly pass him. _'It's not even poisoned.'_ He wondered what the Suna-nin had hoped to accomplish with such futile efforts.

"I'm not leaving until I see Sakura!" Sasori didn't have many kunai. He had hidden most of them before Tsunade decided to send him back to Suna, and they were expensive to buy, even though Tenten was giving him a discount—although Ino was actually buying them for him since Tsunade would literally kill him if she knew he had kunai, so the discount was actually due to Ino's superior bargaining skills and not because of anything he did. But even so, he couldn't afford to waste them. That was why he had to finish this quickly!

"I told you to leave." Sasuke grabbed Sasori by the arm, pulling it around and twisting the kunai out of the redhead's hand. It was true that Sasori should have been stronger. If he had his puppets, and his poison, and the clear mind to fight instead of focussing entirely on the desire to see Sakura, perhaps he would have won. Perhaps.

After dragging the Suna-nin to the exit, Sasuke threw him out of the hospital, into rain before turning back to Sakura's dark room.

_'Why won't I let him see her?'_ The memory of Sasori's frantic question right before his weak attack wafted into his mind as he walked through the door, as his eyes fell on Sakura's cocooned form. _'Why...'_ As much as he wanted to answer, Sasuke could never tell Sasori why he was doing it. The nukenin wouldn't understand. Naruto...Naruto loved this girl. Probably more than he loved him.

That was why he couldn't let anyone come near her. He couldn't let anyone take her away from the blond. Even though he couldn't let go of Naruto, didn't want to let go of him, he knew that he couldn't hold onto him for much longer because...

Naruto had probably forgotten those words by now. The blond shinobi forgot things easily, especially after being dead for so long. Even something so important...Sasuke couldn't expect Naruto to remember the few words that he had said on that day, that day he told him that he loved him. It was so long ago. It was a lifetime ago, in a life they lived before they died. Anyone else would have forgotten those words.

But Sasuke wanted to believe that Naruto still remembered.

That day, Sasuke had asked for one chance, only one chance to be with him. On that day, Naruto had reluctantly given him that chance. If Naruto had forgotten about it by now, did he still have permission to hold onto him? Or will Naruto just run away?

**A**s soon as the cold night air hit him, as the late summer storm soaked his body, Sasori lost the strength to walk further. The hospital's secure walls blocked his view, allowing only glimpses of empty windows, empty of nothing but the pink-haired girl he searched for. He kept thinking that Sakura was in one of those room, waiting for him to see her, glancing through the thin glass, searching for his face as if she somehow knew he was there. But he knew that she wasn't standing in one of those windows. Her room was on the other side of the hospital. Even if he wanted to see a reflection of her face in the clouded moonlight, he couldn't.

"Stop, damn crazy woman!" By his side, the sound of splashing water accompanied the shouting. "Why are you doing this!"

"But Hidan-chan, you said you wanted a bath." Feigned sweetness oozed from each acrid word.

"I never said anything about a—" The sound of words through water.

Sasori ignored the two insane people by his side.

"Kuso Saori! Do someth—" Hidan's words bubbled as Anko pressed his face through a puddle's surface. Even though the water wasn't deep, Hidan's face wasn't long enough to save him from drowning. But the nukenin wasn't going to die from something simple like a puddle. He might lose consciousness, but he definitely wasn't going to die.

The redhead continued to ignore them. All the sane people were inside at this time of night. Anyone else would have run from this endless rain. The water clinging to him...he couldn't feel it anymore. His whole body was numb with thought.

From the moment he saw Sakura again, he thought she was lying, teasing him. She liked to torture him. If she didn't want to torment him, she would never have asked him to pretend to be the father of her child. There were plenty of other shinobi who would have agreed without argument. He could definitely think of a few, like that idiot, Kakashi, or that kid who always followed Sakura around, Rock Lee. It didn't have to be him.

But she wasn't lying. As he stood in her hospital room, as he watched her speaking with the Hokage, as he watched her emotionless eyes looking back at him, he couldn't deny the truth any longer. Not only did she lose her emotions for him, she had also lost all acknowledgement of his existence as a human being. He was a puppet in her eyes, a cruel, evil puppet who had no right to be in Konoha, to be near her. He was only the insane nukenin that had killed his own grandmother to meet his goals. Sakura had truly forgotten him.

The words she had said at the moment of her death, that moment that she had said his name over all the possible people she could have called for... The emotions they once shared had already faded.

Her world was already complete, and he wasn't a part of it.

**U**sually, Sasuke's cold house emitted a lonely presence, so the warmth of another person drew Naruto's attention immediately from the table. He had been staring at it for such a long time that he had lost track of time. Beyond the open shouji doors, the rain still fell in unstoppable sheets of water. Inside Sasuke's dark house, he was still alone. "Sai, what are you doing here?" He had thought that Sai was helping Kakashi with his latest mission, so the emotionless shinobi shouldn't be in Konoha. "Did something happen?" Even though Naruto's voice should have held more concern—because something really could have happened to Kakashi on his frequent dangerous missions—he couldn't feel anything but loneliness.

"Hokage-sama sent a message." Sai glanced at the note on the table before turning to Naruto again. Two lines... "You're not going to tell him before you go?" Naruto should say more than two lines before leaving. "It's dangerous. You should—"

"It's okay." Naruto forced a shaky grin at his teammate. "I'm not a weak genin anymore." He didn't have to say anything more to Sasuke. "Besides..." If he told Sasuke that he was leaving, he would never be able to leave Konoha. "You're here to take me away, right?"

"It's not an execution," Sai said awkwardly. He was surprised when the bird flew overhead with the message that Naruto had requested a mission far from Konoha. Tsunade had thought that it would be safer if he was with Kakashi and Sai, people that he knew and trusted. Sai couldn't blame the Hokage for being concerned, but Naruto wasn't in any condition for an S-ranked mission. The jinchuuriki must have insisted for the Hokage to let him go.

"No," Naruto said reservedly as he pulled his backpack of ramen over his back. Usually, he loved missions, but this time was different. He wasn't on a mission because he wanted to be. He was on a mission because he was running. He was running away from Sasuke. "It's not an execution," but it felt like one. Because it _was_ an execution, because if he left now, Sasuke would definitely leave him. Because if he left now, he would never return to this house, this place, his place by Sasuke's side again.

And even knowing that, he still left.

**B**eyond Sakura's door, she heard them clearly. Sasuke was arguing with Sasori. Their loud voices... She couldn't sleep. But she couldn't get up either. The heavy pounding of her heart suffocated her. The knowledge that he was outside, that he was so close... She could almost touch him. She wanted to run into the halls. She wanted to run into the halls and...

Sakura turned, wrapping the blankets tightly around her body, chaining her limbs from movement. She couldn't go out there. If she went out there... She just couldn't go out there! _'Why?'_ She wanted to know the reason. She wanted to know why she couldn't stop thinking about him, that shadowy presence in the back of her mind, that man that made her dizzy with confusion. He kept calling to her, pulling her from across the night long after the voices had disappeared from the halls.

"Why are you still awake?" Sasuke's irritated voice came from the darkness. He was watching her, still watching her.

"Why are you still here?" Sakura admitted that she liked having Sasuke here with her. Her heart warmed at the thought that he was here to watch over her, but that wasn't true. If he was truly concerned about her, she would have felt it, but all she sensed was his annoyance. "You shouldn't leave Naruto alone." She still fully remembered what he had said to her all those months ago when he left her. He loved Naruto. And knowing how stubborn Sasuke was, he still hadn't changed his mind, hadn't regretted choosing Naruto...even though they died for it.

"Neji isn't here yet." If Sasuke hadn't worked so hard just to obtain this mission, he would have thought it was funny, and laughed. Everything related to Sakura had been pushed onto Neji since he knew too much. If only Tsunade thought the same thing about him, instead of thinking that he was a danger, just because he resembled Orochimaru, it would be so much easier to ease Naruto's worries. "I have to wait until he arrives before—"

"Naruto asked you to watch over me, didn't he?" Sakura understood too well what must have happened, what went through Naruto's mind. Sasuke wouldn't have come on his own. Since they were still students in the Academy, Sasuke had never thought about her; only Naruto had thought about her. Even when thoughts of Sasuke agonized him, Naruto still couldn't completely let go of her. It was probably a bad habit by now. If Sasuke hated her because of the power she held over the blond shinobi, she would understand. It was the same reason why she could never forgive Naruto, because all Sasuke thought of was Naruto's happiness. "He's alone, isn't he?" If she wanted Sasuke to be happy, Naruto couldn't suffer.

Naruto probably thought that he could handle being alone. That stifling loneliness he had lived with since his birth...Naruto couldn't handle that kind of loneliness anymore. Because after all these years, he wasn't alone anymore. Slowly, that loneliness had faded away. Naruto couldn't go back to those Academy days, when he could walk home by himself, open the door to an empty apartment, plug in the electric kettle and make ramen for dinner...all without someone watching over him and scolding him for eating junk.

"Are you okay with that?" Sakura had learned to let go of Sasuke long ago. When she sought Orochimaru for power, it was never power to bring Sasuke and Naruto back. Even if they were by her side, their hearts were still too far away for her to touch. She had accepted it. "Should you leave him alone for so long?" When her memories of them had finally faded, she had stopped reaching for them. That was a year ago, right before she found Orochimaru.

"But he's...not..." Slowly, Sasuke realized Naruto's plan. "...going to—" He realized his stupidity for blindly obeying him. While he worked so hard to make Naruto happy, Naruto had other intentions. He was worrying over Naruto leaving him only a few moments ago. He shouldn't have left him alone.

Sasuke shunshin-ed out of the room before he said another word. With that much pushing, Sakura wouldn't hate him for leaving. He needed to find Naruto, quickly!

_'Naruto, I know how you must feel.'_ He knew his own goals too well. He had never tried to hide his dreams or his goals from anyone. He had wanted to kill his brother. He had done that. Now, he had to restore his clan. _'But...baka!'_ _Sasuke_ would choose between Naruto or his clan. Naruto shouldn't choose for him!

"Naruto!" Sasuke shouted as soon as he ran through the broken front door of his house. For a year and four months, the door had remained broken. Sasuke doubted that he would fix it anytime soon. "Naruto!" He had thought that the blond shinobi would answer. When he came home, whenever he called out "tadaima," Naruto was always there to welcome him home with an "okaeri." Sasuke never wanted to hear those words more than at this moment.

But Naruto wasn't there. If Naruto was there, he would have yelled at him long ago. "_Sasuke! You're supposed to be with Sakura-chan!"_ He would shout something mindless like that.

However, the house was empty. He sensed its coldness, the emptiness that had mocked him since he moved back into this hell. The only piece of warmth came from the clean white piece of paper sitting on a table that once sat in Naruto's apartment. It was too tall to belong in a traditional Japanese house like Sasuke's, where most of the furniture was short and easy to reach from the ground, but it was the kind of incongruent furniture that fit in their haphazard house.

"_Sasuke, I'm on a mission. Take care of Sakura-chan while I'm gone."_

Two lines... Sasuke could tell that Naruto had either thought too much or not thought enough while writing it. But whether it was conscious or subconscious, Sasuke sensed the words underlying those two lines. _'Baka.'_ He sensed the tension in Naruto's voice. _'You want me to take care of Sakura?'_ Already, Naruto was letting go of him. _'And what will you do with yourself?'_ Naruto was too much of an idiot to comprehend. _'If I have to take care of Sakura, what will happen to you, Naruto!'_

He had forgotten. Already, the blond shinobi had forgotten the promise that he had made. He was supposed to wait for him. He was supposed to give him the chance to prove he could love him more than anyone else. He wasn't supposed to run away. He wasn't supposed to push him away.

Because without Naruto, he would truly be alone.

By now, he understood his brother too well. It was true that he wanted to leave Sasuke alive, because he wanted to spare himself the guilt of wiping out the entire clan, because he needed someone to kill him, because he hated Sasuke, because of all those reasons that he wanted to torture his brother, because their father expected too much out of him. Itachi wanted to hurt Sasuke. But more than anything, it was because Sasuke never hated him. He had thought that nothing he did could make Sasuke hate him, not flicking his forehead, not becoming a goal Sasuke could never achieve, not killing their parents.

But Sasuke wasn't kindhearted enough. He wasn't Naruto. Even when Sasuke fought Naruto at Shuumatsu no Tani, Naruto had wanted to save him, to bring him home. Whenever Sasuke thought about his brother, he only wanted vengeance. He only wanted to kill him. Naruto never felt that bitterness toward him.

That was why he was able to leave Konoha. That was why he was able to do all those things to achieve power, to work with Orochimaru, to give up his body for the sake of vengeance...because in the end, even without a body, even without a pure soul, even with innocent blood staining his hands, Sasuke knew that he could return to Konoha, to Naruto, and return to the life that he had left behind. Because Naruto would welcome him with open arms and he would smile, and he would hit him in the back, drag him to Ichiraku Ramen and make him buy enough ramen to feed an army...or just Naruto; then he would tell him how happy he was that Sasuke had returned home, finally. Naruto would only be happy. No thoughts about revenge for all the times that he had tried to kill him, no bitterness about his leaving even though Naruto had shouted for him to stay, no lingering thoughts about their long years apart. Naruto would be happy just to be with him.

Even when he left Naruto years ago, he knew that he wasn't alone. But as he looked at the irritating note, the two bland lines written in black, he knew that Naruto had finally left him. _'Naruto!'_ He shredded the paper before turning toward Hokage tower. _'I'm not letting you go!'_ If anyone knew where Naruto had gone, it was Tsunade. _'You're not getting away from me!'_

Without Naruto, he no longer had a home to return to.

**W**ithin her room, Tsunade looked at the clock again before closing her eyes. It wasn't long now. Sai had dropped by a few hours ago to tell her that he was taking Naruto with him. And knowing the jinchuuriki's stupidity, he didn't say goodbye to Sasuke properly. That meant that—

"Kuso baachan!" Sasuke's angry shout startled Tsunade for a moment before the door slammed open. "Where did you send Naruto!"

"Wherever Kakashi is," Tsunade said as she dropped her head onto the back of the sofa. She knew that Sasuke would come running, so she had put off sleeping until later. "Sai came to get him. If you run now, you can still catch them."

Truthfully, Tsunade didn't want to send Naruto on a mission, especially not on an S-ranked mission such as this. It was too dangerous for someone who could barely walk a straight line, and Naruto couldn't even remember that the line was there, much less walk along it. However, she couldn't say no. Naruto was too persistent. He never stopped asking. She would find him hiding under her desk, behind the door, outside her window, waiting with a cup of coffee in the morning, a newspaper in the afternoon and a lottery ticket at the end of the day. If Sasuke was home more often, she could probably have said no a few more times before sending him on a mission, a much less dangerous mission.

But Naruto specifically requested an S-ranked mission, something dangerous. He had said those exact words. He wanted something dangerous, really dangerous. Tsunade could only imagine what was going through Naruto's mind when he said it. The only S-ranked mission that wasn't _too_ dangerous would be with Kakashi. With Kakashi and Sai nearby, the chances of Naruto killing himself... She didn't want to think about it. There wasn't such a thing as a safe S-ranked mission.

"If Naruto is hurt in any way..." Sasuke growled before running out the door.

"He'll kill me?" Tsunade mused the thought. Orochimaru was equally reckless, but then, doing something was better than doing nothing at all. Orochimaru was also the only one capable of becoming bored with peace. "What will you do if you're too late, Uchiha Sasuke?" Because she doubted that anything Sasuke could do would rival how she felt, how miserable she was. Nothing could erase the memory of knowing she had sent the shinobi who helped her face her past into death.

**End Chapter 35**

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Fire's English tidbits for those who care:

This is something that I find in a lot of fanfics that make me laugh. The technical term is a misplaced modifyer. The example is something like, "Sai went to return a book for Kakashi." So, Sai was returning a book in exchange for Kakashi or was he exchanging a book that Kakashi had possessed? That meaning isn't clear. --;; I know that the example isn't very good, but you'll know if you see one. The subordinate clause is placed in a strange place that distorts the meaning of the entire sentence.

Fire's babbling:

Fire: I think some of you saw this coming.

Sasuke: I told them in the A/N at the beginning of this chapter.

Tsunade: I don't want Naruto or Sasuke ever coming to me again. (staring at the lottery ticket) I don't want to check it to see if it wins. Naruto bought it, and with his luck, it should be a winning ticket, but if it's a winning ticket in my possession, should it be considered a bad omen or not? (headache)

Sasori: I want to see Sakura.

Sakura: Stop coming into my dreams! I'm trying to sleep!

Fire: That shadow was Sasori's thoughts about Sakura, trying to pull her outside so that he can see her. Remember that they still have that Edo Tensei bond. --;; It's very weak, but it's still there. You'll see. I'll explain it later.

Sasuke: Stop explaining things. If the readers are confused, they'll tell you in a—

Fire: Review! I know that it has been a while and I'm putting a lot of stuff in this chapter that belonged in the first book...which not all of you read, but I want to know if any of it makes sense! If you didn't read the first book in this series, is it confusing? All of it was so long ago, so even the characters don't remember what they said. --;; They just remembered roughly what they said.

Sasuke: I dumped Sakura for Naruto, and—

Sakura: I don't want to remember. It was—

Naruto: Sakura-chan was in denial.

Sakura: Naruto freaked out.

Sasuke: And I convinced him not to leave me.

Fire: That's the summary of what everyone was thinking about in this chapter. Now send me a review! What did you like? What didn't you like? Did everything make sense? I wanted Sasori to fight properly, but that was the best he could do in his condition. He has no puppets, and no weapons. His body is still too weak to use properly, and he's thinking about Sakura, so he's completely distracted from the fight. --;; Make sense? Tell me!

Sasuke: Fire has gone insane again. Where's Kisame?

Kisame: (running away) ...

Anko: Here. (hands Hidan to Fire)

Fire: (hugging Hidan) I need input!

Hidan: Hey! Don't hug me! I don't want— (suffocated)

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	37. 36: Dizzy are the Spirals Running Away

Sasuke: Fire isn't here so I'm in charge.

Naruto: Does that make me your co-writer?

Itachi: I'm the co-writer.

Naruto: ...

Sasuke: (angry) I can't believe Fire put Itachi in charge. Fire and Sand went to the neurologist, then to the hospital for a CT head scan, so...

Naruto: Does that mean I'm going to end up with Itachi?

Sasuke: No!

Sasori: (reading the reviews) Screwed up relationship?

Sasuke: No, Soda-san is talking about me and Naruto.

Naruto: I don't understand this sentence by Audrey-san. Does she mean Sasuke can't see me or does she really mean Sasori? There isn't a SasoNaru pairing in this story, is there?

Itachi: Definitely not.

Fire: (running into the window) Waah! What are you doing! (smacks Tobi in the head) Don't give them the reviews!

Tobi: But Itachi-sama said that you put him in charge.

Fire: (sighs) Okay, here's what happened this month. I went to the hospital, again. My grandma has an infection from the pacemaker operation. She's okay now, but she was suffering a lot. I had to call the ambulance and everything. --;; Then, there were the appointments made for Sand. (collapses)

Sasuke: Can you tell that Fire has been running around? There was actually time to edit, but no time to upload.

Fire: (groans) I need to get internet at home, but Sand doesn't want to pay for it when we can use net for free at the library.

Naruto: Horrible twisted tragedy? (stares at Fire)

Fire: Hm...I'll think about that.

Sasori: But Sakura's going to end up with me and be happy! Okay, Teges? You're making Sakura—

Sakura: Who wants to end up with a psycho like you! (smacks Sasori into a wall) You're all insane for wanting me to end up with a lunatic like him!

Fire: Anyway, I'll stop talking now. See? Now the A/N isn't so long anymore. Yay!

Itachi: (stares at Tobi) ...

Tobi: (scared) Y-yes, Itachi-sama! (runs across the screen with chapter 36)

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Note: All Japanese sentences were taken out of the Naruto manga. It's all from the scene where Sasuke leaves Konoha in chapter 181. The lines were:

Ikanaide – Don't go

Onegai dakara koko ni ite – I beg you/please, so stay here. "With me" is implied even though Sakura never said it.

Uzaiyo – a slurred pronunciation of "Urusai" meaning you're annoying or shut up. In this case, it means you're annoying. Masashi-sensei really used this spelling, so I don't want any of you to tell me that I spelled Urusai wrong.

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**Chapter 36: Dizzy are the Spirals Running Away**

_**'E**ven now, do you remember the words you said to me when you left? Do you remember the promise that had faded into the winds, the rains, and the sunlight that still streamed not too long ago? Waiting...always waiting... In the promised dream of our future, I'm still waiting. But cruel reality has finally found its way into our dream. Did you expect me to wait forever? I can't sit still and wait anymore, not while knowing you'll never return. Not while knowing that your promised dawn will never arrive.'_

**T**he rain kept falling. Long after Sasuke's warmth had faded from the hospital room, Neji still hadn't arrived. He must have been annoyed with this assignment. Sakura knew that she wasn't in the best mental health. The cold hands of the dead kept reaching for her, clawing at her arms and face. She wanted them to go away, but she had already grown accustomed to seeing them. The ghosts barely scared her anymore, even though the pain of bony fingers raking across her arms was still too strong to ignore. But those fingers digging painfully into her flesh belonged to her.

The numb halls passed quickly through her senses, only enough for her to realize that she was leaving the hospital. No one saw her, even though shinobi stood by every door, someone stood by every exit. In the back of her mind, she realized that it was because she didn't want them to see her. Her body had moved on its own, and the genjutsu covering her body shielded her movements from everyone.

Beyond the hospital's sterile light and tall walls, the cold summer rain soaked her skin with water colder than she had thought it would be. She considered running to Sasuke's house, to see if he had found Naruto, to see if they were happy together. But she couldn't bring herself to go. She didn't want to see them, to see their happiness, a happiness that she couldn't give to Sasuke on her own. That was why she had to think about someone else.

_'Kakashi-sensei's not in Konoha, and Sai-kun went with him.'_ She tried to think of someone, anyone that she could see to take her mind off Sasuke, but as the names passed through her head, there was only emptiness. _'There's...someone...'_ There was someone else she was forgetting. _'Someone important...'_ She knew that there was somewhere else she could go. There had to be! There was always someone waiting for her, someone waiting right there.

"Sakura?" And through the rain, the voice came clearly. "Why are you here?" A familiar voice. "Go inside."

Sakura turned, her maladjusted eyes scrolling across the blank walls around her, but grey rain veiled everything. She couldn't see who it was. She couldn't see the person pulling so hard on her memory that she could almost recognize him. But he was there. She knew that he was there, right in front of her. Her whole body filled with anticipation, raising her heart quickly at the thought. That shadow hiding in her memory, the outline of someone she should remember, he was right there.

But her senses only heard the sound of splashing water and bubbling words, and her eyes only saw Anko and Hidan sitting in the rain. That was all. There was no one else there.

Sakura stared disappointedly at the empty ground, at the lingering warmth against the wall. Someone had been sitting there, speaking to her. Even thought it was empty now, someone _was_ there.

She turned longingly toward Anko. She wanted to ask the tokubetsu jounin if... She wanted to know who was calling her.

But already she was expecting the impossible. Already, she expected to hear the words she always expected to hear: Uchiha Sasuke. She couldn't stop herself from wanting to hear those words that would tell her that he remembered, that he remembered how much she cared about him, that he understood how she felt about him. But she also couldn't stop herself from knowing that Sasuke wasn't the person who was sitting there, outside the hospital, calling for her. Because Sasuke's heart was only calling for Naruto.

And her words wouldn't come out. She couldn't ask Anko who was there, because if Anko said the name of anyone other that Sasuke, she would have to finally accept the truth she had hidden from herself. She would have to admit to herself that Sasuke didn't love her. She would have to let go of even the fragments of her memories of him.

"Sakura!" Neji's frantic shout finally came from the hospital entrance, right before his exhausted hands shook her. "Why are you standing in the rain!" Thinking that she hadn't gone far, he had obviously searched through the entire hospital for her, and his byakugan had found her outside...watching a crazy woman and a body-less nukenin. "..." Unable to think of anything to say that would stop her from standing there, he only stared wordlessly at her. "Hokage-sama..." Even after he shook her, Sakura was still just standing and watching Anko. More than before, he wanted a new assignment. He _really_ wanted a new assignment.

**S**asori had run away. He didn't know why he had run away, but he did. From around the corner, just around the corner where Sakura's voice questioned Anko, he pressed his back against the solid wall, as if he could disappear into the thick stone and wood, and hide from the illogical pounding of his human heart. Panic tightened around his chest so that he couldn't think clearly anymore. _'Why did I run?'_ Akazuna no Sasori wasn't afraid of anyone. He was too strong to be afraid of a little girl, to be afraid of Sakura. He couldn't be afraid of her!

But he was. He _was_ afraid of Sakura.

He had only called for her. In the past, he had called for a lot of people, but no one had ever heard him. No one had ever come. And he was okay with that. Knowing that he was alone made him stronger. He was secure in that absolute truth. As a nukenin, he had no one. Like all nukenin, he had no one. If someone had come for him, he wouldn't have been a nukenin anymore.

Sakura shouldn't have heard him.

There were a lot of people that he had wished had heard him: the people of Suna that he had forgotten long ago, his grandmother...his parents... Even though his parents were dead, he had always thought that they would come. If he called loud enough, they would hear him.

_'Why was she the only one who heard me?'_ With his shaking hands holding his throbbing head, Sasori slid to the ground. He had never felt such horrific fear. This unknown emotion... He had never feared anything as strongly as this.

He was losing himself. Already, he wasn't the same man he was twenty years ago. He couldn't remember the man who had killed Sandaime Kazekage anymore, couldn't remember what it was like to be the Sasori of long ago, to want to be a part of Akatsuki, to want to become a nukenin and to be alone. He had already sunk into this human body, this human routine, and this human decay. He had already forgotten his existence as a puppet, the feeling of a solid wood body instead of blood-filled flesh. He had already forgotten what cruelty was. And now, he had ceased to be a nukenin.

Sakura really was a horrible person for doing all this to him.

That was why he had to get away from her. His mind screamed at him, shouted for him to run away. Being a fearless nukenin, a heartless nukenin, was better than being a shivering human. He had to get away from her. He had to run away from the person who had forced humanity on him.

She had already forgotten him. If only she could still remember, it would be so much easier to accept his new human self, but it was already too late. He had to forget her. In the eyes of a girl who could only see him as an evil puppet, he would always be an evil puppet. Even though she had loved him, he still couldn't become human. They still couldn't be together. Even though she had loved him, he was still the same man who had tried to kill her.

Sakura was even more of a horrible person for remembering only that part of him.

**S**akura 's tired mind couldn't think of anything anymore. After standing in the cold rain, her whole shivering body shrank from logic. She didn't want to do anything but sleep until all the weariness melted away. But as she turned to the hospital's soothing warmth, she felt his voice again, the voice of someone important, more important than she knew. Someone she had forgotten. Someone she shouldn't have forgotten.

Her limbs creaked wearily as she turned from the hospital entrance. By her side, the tight leash of Neji's white eyes chained her to the bright light beyond the hospital's doors. Even without turning, she sensed his watching her. He wouldn't allow her to escape easily.

But she had to go. She couldn't stay there while he was leaving. He was leaving. He was definitely leaving Konoha. Now!

She could see nothing else. There was only the outline of his body, disappearing into the forest of trees beyond the village until there was nothing except leaves and bark. She was alone. If she didn't stop him, she would be alone!

Fear tightened around her until she saw nothing else, heard nothing but her desire to stop him, felt nothing but the desire to escape from the reality of being alone. She had to stop him. That was all she knew. Even if she couldn't remember him, she had to stop him.

"Where do you think you're going?"

Neji had led her under the overhang at the hospital entrance. She was standing so that the light from within the hospital washed over her. But before she realized it, her whole body was wet, and the light was gone.

Without realizing what she was doing, she had already walked away from the hospital. The voice had already pulled her body forwards. She had to see him. She had to stop him. She had to bring him back. She had to fill that lonely hole growing in her chest before it destroyed her.

"Stop right there!" Neji caught her movement as soon as she tried to walk away. If he lost her, the Hokage would never stop shouting. His bandaged arms shot out, grabbing her shoulder before she could run.

But Sakura didn't intend to stay. "Gomen." Her fist sliced through the air and cut into Neji's chest, sending him flying through the hospital halls before he realized she had hit him. "I can't stay anymore!" She turned, listening for the faint voice in the wind, and already, she felt his words shouting across the village. She couldn't ignore that voice anymore. What sounded like a whisper, a faint call only a few hours ago had become a roaring shout in her head. It was shouting for her. It was shouting, and it was shouting from...that direction!

"Hn." Neji smiled faintly to himself as he lay beneath the stark hospital lights. He knew that she would try to escape. That was why he didn't want this mission. He didn't want to watch a girl like Sakura, someone who would definitely go out of her way to be troublesome. If he wasn't Sasuke, or Sasori, it was impossible to keep her in one place. She only wanted to run away. But even though he didn't want to do it, he had accepted this mission. He couldn't blame the outcome of this mission on anyone but himself. If he allowed her to escape... He refused to fail this mission!

Shakily standing, he shunshin-ed into the rain, where Sakura had begun running away. Even though flying so far into the hospital was partly because he had thrown himself backwards, to avoid the full force of Sakura's superhuman punch, he had felt the shudder in his bones as her fist slammed into the air before his chest. If she had hit him, if that punch hadn't missed, he would have died. For sure, she would have killed him.

This wasn't his first time fighting Sakura. During their first encounter, he had underestimated her. It wasn't happening again this time. That was then. That was over a year ago, when the Hokage had ordered him to search for her. He had grown stronger. This time, she wasn't going to escape. He wasn't going to accept failure.

He had thought hard about that fight, and he still couldn't see how she had managed to do it. At that time, his byakugan saw through everything except how she found the will to run away. Only Naruto had ever successfully escaped from his Hakke Rokujyuuyonshou. Back then, Sakura had suffered through thirty-two of his sixty-four hits, but to escape in the middle of his attack... Neji feared Sakura's unwavering determination, her will to do what she had set out to do. To possess almost no chakra, to know that no one would come to help her, to have nowhere to go, and to have no destination in mind, but to still gather enough will to defeat him... That was what he had to defeat. Neji refused to lose to her again.

She wasn't leaving the hospital.

"Let me go," Sakura said, even though the rain was already making her delusional. The grey world she had woken in pressed tightly around her, suffocating her. She had to break through the glass walls surrounding her bleak world, and see him. She had to see him. She had to stop him from leaving her alone in that empty place. "You can't stop me!"

_'I can't?'_ Neji's pride choked at her words. She had said it aloud, but he refused to believe it. He had to stop her. All he had to do was seal her chakra, keep her from using those monstrous attacks, and lock her in her room. This time, she wasn't escaping from his Hakke Rokujyuuyonshou!

As Sakura stepped toward the opening in the walls, the exit that led to the voice calling from the village gates, Neji's chakra rushed at her. But even with his determined roar, she didn't fear him. After all, without her strength, she was still a shinobi. Without her chakra, she was still strong enough to run away. Because she wanted to go, Neji could do nothing to stop her. She would still run.

The subtle sound of chakra slowly gathered around Sakura's legs as she continued walking. Her muscles groaned under the growing weight threatening to crush her bones. For anyone else, the immense weight would have dragged their bodies down. For anyone else, the weight would have already crushed them, but Sakura understood that she couldn't attack Neji, not directly. If she wanted the strength to keep running, if she wanted the time to stop the memory of that man from leaving Konoha, she couldn't fight Neji with her arms and legs. Because in close range combat, Neji had the advantage. In close range combat, he would definitely win.

_'Now!'_ He was right behind her when she spun the dense chakra hanging on her legs around, lifting her foot to smash against the thick air.

Neji was about to hit her. He would have hit her...if it wasn't for the wind. _'Nani?'_ The single kick sliced through the air, slammed through his body and cracked through his chest. His body flew backwards, as easily as if she had directly hit him. But it was only her chakra. Only her chakra had hit him, but he still smashed through the side of the hospital. His eyes still blurred from the force of her kick. His body still ached in pain. His hands still shook as he pushed himself from the crumbling hole but...

_'She's gone.'_ The ANBU within the hospital had finally realized that Sakura was gone, but even as they came running, it was already too late. He could have still run after her. Neji had all the desire to run after her, and stop her, but he couldn't. Already, the air wheezed out of his collapsing lungs. Already, his body sagged to the ground. She was gone. He only hoped that she didn't disappear this time.

**A**s soon as Tsunade told him where Naruto was, he left the village. Even with his son sleeping in the hospital, and Sakura waiting in her room, he didn't have to think twice about it. Nothing was going to stop him. Nothing was going to stand between him and Naruto, not even his dreams.

The blond shinobi couldn't be far, not yet. He hadn't left Naruto alone for too long, only about half a day to convince the Hokage to let him watch over Sakura. Naruto had asked him to do it, and if it eased Naruto's worries, he decided to do it. If he had known... If he had known that Naruto would try to run away, he would never have left him alone.

He was heartless. Sasuke knew that he was heartless. He had always thought about himself first, before anyone else. Before, being heartless was acceptable. He couldn't hurt anyone with his emotionlessness. For all those years, he didn't change because he didn't need to change. If he wanted to kill Itachi, and if he wanted to restore his clan, he didn't need kindness. He didn't need empathy. He didn't need those emotions that would have weathered his goals.

But now that he had surpassed those goals, he couldn't continue like that any longer. He wasn't looking at those same goals anymore. He wasn't working toward those goals. His desires had changed. He didn't just want to defeat Itachi anymore. He had already killed him over a year ago. He did't just want to restore his clan. The strength and greatness associated with the Uchiha clan just wasn't going to return if he had a few children, if he worked hard. It would take generations to come to restore their name. That was why he had to focus on what was important. Naruto. At the moment, at this point in time, Naruto was the most important person to him. If he didn't have Naruto, he couldn't continue reaching for his dreams. Many problems will come, but he didn't have to worry about them now. For now, all he wanted was to be with Naruto. He could be selfish. Like he had always been, he could be selfish, and ignore what Naruto wanted him to do. There was only what he wanted. _'Naruto.'_ Even if he had to crush him, he refused to let him get away.

Sasuke already knew that the blond shinobi was ahead. Even though there were no signs of any living creature except the conspicuous broken bark on the branches as he passed, he knew that it was Naruto. Only the dobe was careless enough to leave a trail. Even genin had more stealth than the blond chuunin.

Only Naruto's trail could be so easy to follow.

And he found them. As soon as the roofs of faraway houses appeared in the horizon, the silhouette of Sai's dark form bending over Naruto's familiar body came into view. "Get away from Naruto!" Sasuke leapt forwards and snatched Naruto's body from the other shinobi. As Sasuke glanced quickly over Naruto's pale face, reassuring himself that the dobe was unharmed, his mind shouted with certainty. Naruto was unconscious. Somehow, Sai had managed to beat Naruto unconscious.

"It wasn't me." Sai's monotonous voice spoke with innocence. "Naruto was ambushed." He didn't explain where he was, but obviously, neither he nor Kakashi were there when it happened. He had chased the man away, but... All around them, his defeated ink creatures lay in bloody black puddles. The remnants of a fierce battle marked the ground, the sign of Sai's defeat at the hands of a person shrouded in blurred memories.

Sai could still remember the nukenin's eyes. Those red eyes... He knew that following him was too dangerous for Naruto!

"Where's Kakashi!" Sasuke shouted as he pressed Naruto's unconscious body against his chest. He couldn't believe that Kakashi hadn't been there. Naruto wouldn't have been on this mission if they couldn't protect him. Sasuke understood if Sai couldn't protect Naruto. He didn't have a very high opinion of the pale Ne-ANBU. Someone as young as he and Naruto were, someone with equally as naive experiences in the world, someone like Sai couldn't protect Naruto. In Sasuke's mind, there were a million possible reasons why Sai couldn't do it, even if everyone had a million arguments against his reasoning. But Kakashi... "Where is he!" Kakashi should have been there!

And Sai was as frustrated as Sasuke. He was equally as disappointed in himself, and in Kakashi. Just because it was a simple mission, just because they were investigating the rumours of a nukenin who may or may not be in this area, just because the chances of engaging in combat were low, they had let their guards down. And Naruto had...

Because it was an S-ranked mission, because anything was possible, because they understood the dangers that came with _S_-ranked missions better than Naruto did, that they could have found nothing, or they could have found death waiting beyond their village, they should have been more careful.

Knowing Naruto, he had requested the mission without knowing the risks involved. Or if he did, he had planned to die all along. If that was the case, Sai couldn't have protected his friend, even if he had been there.

"Who did it?" Sasuke's voice filled with sudden calmness. "Who were you investigating?" But even with that calmness, the anger hidden deep within his words threatened to kill the person who had hurt Naruto. "Tell me!"

"Without Hokage-sama's permission, I can't." Sai's voice was unwavering as he spoke. It was true. Any information within an S-ranked mission was classified to anyone uninvolved. Uchiha Sasuke had never been on an S-ranked mission before. He would never understand the secrecy behind their activities.

"Kuso, tell me! If you don't, I'll kill―"

""Sasuke...?" Naruto's soft voice pulled Sasuke lurching back to sanity. "Why are you shouting?" He pulled himself out of the dark-haired shinobi's surprised touch. "And what happened..." Naruto stared at Sasuke, as if unable to recognize him. "...to your face?"

"My face?" Sasuke shirked, startled as Naruto's hand brushed against the side of his face. "Naruto?" Naruto had never... Naruto had never been the one reaching for him.

"It's different." The blond shinobi held Sasuke's face for a moment, staring into his eyes but still looking far away. The faint smile that faded slowly from his mouth shone painfully before he closed his eyes. "No. It's..." He allowed his words to disappear from forming in the air. "Sasuke, why are you here?" His words were suddenly cold as his hand dropped from the dark-haired shinobi's face. _'It's a hallucination. That's all.'_ He convinced himself that who he saw, and who he had seen were all hallucinations. "Sakura-chan's waiting for you! Go home!"

"You're insane." Sasuke couldn't believe that Naruto would say those words. After coming all the way to the edge of Hi no Kuni, Naruto was pushing him away. "You have to come back with me!" It wasn't the first time Naruto yelled at him. For as long as he could remember, far into the past, before the clan massacre, from the moment he met Naruto, he had been yelling at him. He had heard his shouting voice so many times that it didn't move him anymore. "You really don't remember?" He was used to it, but this was the first time Naruto pushed him away. He had never pushed him away before! "You're not allowed to leave me!" If Naruto truly couldn't remember the promise he had made, he would make him remember!

But Naruto didn't want to remember. Even though he didn't realize that he didn't want to remember, he truly didn't. He only wanted Sasuke to be happy. To do that, he had to push Sasuke away. He had to throw him away and run. That was why he was here. That was why he insisted on an S-ranked mission! He had to step out of the way of Sasuke's dreams. He had to let him go on with his life, to find someone who could help him instead of destroying his chances of achieving his goals.

But Sasuke's arms locked tightly around him... _'Teme...'_ ...and he couldn't run away.

He could still remember his death. Within his mind, that day was still so clear that he couldn't wipe it away. Sasuke probably couldn't remember it. Sasuke had already died by the time it happened. Naruto understood everything as soon as that fuuma shuriken hit him. He was never meant to be with Sasuke. Because being with Sasuke meant destroying Sasuke's dreams... Because being with Sasuke meant never rebuilding the Uchiha clan... Naruto wasn't strong enough to deny him a family.

Naruto never had siblings. He never had a father or a mother. He never knew what it was like to have a family. A real family. Living under the care of strangers, people who never stayed longer than a month before a new face arrived, living by himself when he was old enough to understand what was necessary to live, knowing nothing about being wanted or needed by anyone... He understood that desire to have a family as much as Sasuke, who had lost his family long ago, who wanted to rebuild it, who wanted a chance to rebuild it.

That was why he could never stand in Sasuke's way.

So it made sense to Naruto. He wanted to see Sasuke and Sakura together...because Sakura loved Sasuke as much as he did. He had seen the warmth in her eyes when she looked at Sasuke, the lightness of her voice when she spoke to him. No matter how many times he had tried to talk to her, in the past, his words had never reached her. Sakura's thoughts were always of Sasuke. She had the devotion that...almost matched his.

And Naruto loved her. He loved her as much as he loved Sasuke. That was why they had to be together!

"Let go of me, teme!" It was painful, but someone had to say it. Someone had to end it, before Sasuke's dreams disappeared forever. "Go back to Konoha and leave me alone!" He couldn't be the one to stand in Sasuke's way. He just couldn't let himself do that! "Sakura-chan's―"

"Listen to me, dobe!" Sasuke shouted before Naruto could continue. He understood too well to listen much longer. No matter what the blond shinobi said, they were all lies. "You actually want me to leave you alone?" Naruto was even stupider than he thought if he actually believed Sasuke would abandon him after returning home to Konoha. "You don't even understand my dreams! I'll decide if I've achieved them..." ...or not.

"Souka." Sasuke had tried to end the sentence before he said too much, but Naruto clearly heard the unsaid words. And he couldn't let Sasuke do it! He couldn't let him abandon his dreams for him! He couldn't be the one to make Sasuke miserable!

Unable to accept his decision, Naruto's hands closed tightly, his whole body curling into himself. But that was only for a moment, a moment of hesitation, as he thought frantically of a way where he could still be by Sasuke's side and still preserve the dreams Sasuke had voiced long ago when they became genin...even while knowing it was impossible. _'Sasuke, gomen.'_ His arms unfurled for a moment before throwing Sasuke away. _'I really can't!'_ He turned, glancing back before running.

_'Naruto!'_ Sasuke had already decided that Naruto wasn't running away. He was too stubborn to change his mind, and he definitely wasn't nice enough to let him go. His arms reached out, his fingers extending around the blond shinobi's arm...

_'Choujuu Giga!'_

...but as his hand closed, large paws of black ink sent his body crashing backwards. Through the pain filling his body, Sasuke saw Sai standing behind his monstrous ink beast. But he had already expected Sai to stop him. Naruto would have told him. Of course, Naruto would have told him why he wanted to be on this S-ranked mission.

"Move!"

Beyond the sound of his shaky command, Sasuke could still see Naruto running. Naruto was always running, faster, further, running so that he couldn't catch him anymore. But even then, Naruto always turned around and told him to hurry, because if he didn't hurry, Naruto would leave him behind. Naruto always threatened to leave him behind, even though he never intended to do it. But this time...

This time, Naruto wasn't turning around.

Naruto had never run away from him before. Never. Always... Always, Naruto ran towards him. Always, he watched him. Always, he waited for him, but...

_'You can't run away from me!'_ He reached back, locking instinctively to the familiar hilt of his kusanagi. "You can't leave me!" Blue veins of lightning snapped from his hands, coiling around the sword and shrieking around his body. "Naruto!"

Sai almost missed it. If he had blinked, it would have been over. He would have died. Sasuke didn't care about him. He didn't care as long as Naruto was still in one piece. At this point, anything would have been fine, as long as Naruto was by his side.

Screaming electric teeth ripped through the ink beasts with more ease than Sai would have liked. Ink rained to the ground, pooling with the rain and the black blood of their comrades. If Sai hadn't seen it, if he had blinked, he wouldn't have avoided those hissing claws tearing across the ground. At least, he avoided most of it. His legs had barely gotten away, leaving with only a deep gash on one and lines of black skin along the other when a wayward chakra tentacle caught it.

And that screeching blue hand was heading for Naruto.

**A**s soon as Sasori stepped across Konoha's gates, Sakura yanked him back, choking him before he could take another step forwards. But as he turned, the phantom clinging to his back vanished. It was only his imagination. Sakura would come to stop him, and even though he was disappointed, the security of knowing he was alone was more calming than he had felt in a long time. But as he turned to the road again, the faint pink of Sakura's hair in the distance caught his attention. He stared, just to make sure, but it was impossible to mistake what it was. It was Sakura!

It couldn't happen. It was already impossible. He had decided and he wasn't going to change his mind. Even if she came to stop him, he couldn't stay in Konoha. He refused to stay!

He had never regretted becoming a nukenin. Because he had a lot of pride in who he was, he never regretted anything he did. To be Akasuna no Sasori, to be the kind of person who relied on himself and only on himself, to had no one, he loved being that person. He never regretted being Chiyo's grandson, never regretted having weak parents who died before he could remember them. He never regretted his past. Even though it was painful, he never regretted anything...

...except this.

...except Sakura.

His whole world stopped and vanished the day he met her. Before then, he had never encountered such an irritating woman. After that, the number of irritating women in his life increased dramatically. First there was Sakura, then the Hokage, and Ino. Anko was equally as insane, and equally as irritating. Then, there were Shizune who constantly annoyed him about joining the ANBU since he was strong, and Yuugao, the ANBU who wouldn't stop glaring at him. In fact, not only were all the annoying kunoichi of Konoha wary of him, the number of irritating men in his life had increased from one―Deidara―to more than he could count. He had definitely chosen the right path by becoming leaving Suna. Becoming a nukenin suited him. He hated people

He hated people, but he was still forced to live in this crowded village! And the person who had forced him to live here was Sakura. The heavy chains that bound him here, to this place...she had locked those chains around him. His arms couldn't move the way he wanted them to move. His body wouldn't move the way he wanted it to move. He couldn't see what he wanted to see. He couldn't say what he wanted to say. He felt emotions he couldn't feel. His life wasn't his own. His body wasn't his own. He had fallen into a world he didn't know.

_'Sakura...'_ As he watched her run toward him, a part of him wanted to stay and wait for her to stop him, because even though he feared her, feared what she was doing to him, feared what she would make him into, he still loved her. Even though she was completely irritating, and commanding, he still didn't want to leave her.

But the chains was binding him too tightly. He couldn't continue choking in silence as their metallic arms strangled him. Knowing that she would never remember him, he just couldn't stay with her. Knowing that she would continue to change him, he couldn't stay.

He turned and ran into the forest.

**End Chapter 36**

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Fire's English tidbits for those who care:

Okay, since I'm sure that there will be at least three chapters following this one, I'm going to go through the four basic spelling rules. Those who know them, um...skip it if you want to, or read on to learn more about the rules. First, the most commonly known spelling rule: if the sound is a long "e" as in "me" then "i" comes before "e" except after "c." After "c," the spelling is "ei" instead of "ie." But of course, there are exceptions like caffeine, protein, seize, and weird. If the sound is any other sound other than a long "e" then "e" comes before "i." For example, words with long "a" sounds like eight, neighbour, weigh, and reign; words with long "i" sounds like height and kaleidoscope; words with short "i" or "u" sounds like forfeit, foreign and sovereign; or words with short "e" sounds like heir and their are all spelled with "ei." But of course, there are exceptions to this as well, like friend (short e), sieve (long i) and mischief (short i). And if the "i" and "e" are pronounced as two separate vowels, the rule doesn't apply, like with fiery, science and variety. Or if the "c" is pronounced like the "sh" in she, the "i" comes before the "e" as in conscience, efficient or omniscient.

Fire's babbling:

Neji: (glaring at Fire) ...

Fire: (hiding behind Kisame) Um, I didn't mean to—

Neji: Again!

Sasuke: If Sakura was using her cursed seal, you'd be dead.

Naruto: (nodding in agreement) ...

Fire: Okay, a little explanation for those of you wondering about this. Even though Sakura had originally summoned Sasori using Edo Tensei, she no longer has any control over him. That means that unless she really tries to make him do something, the chances that he will actually do it is...well...close to nonexistent. However, they're still psychically linked. That means that sometimes, they can feel each other's presence, and they can feel each other's emotions. He might hear her commands sometimes, but only her commands, not all her thoughts.

Tsunade: In other words, Sakura knew that Sasori was leaving because she felt him leaving...through that psychic link. (points at Fire's explanation)

Fire: --;; That's what I was building up to. Sakura felt Sasori's conflicting emotions, the desire to go, the desire to stay, his fear of her, his fear of losing himself, his sadness at having to go, his resolve to not stay, and all those other feelings he wanted to get rid of by leaving Sakura and Konoha behind.

Sakura: Baka.

Sasori: Stay away from me! (runs away from Sakura)

Sasuke: I don't want to be near you either. (walks away from Sakura and drags Naruto away from Itachi)

Itachi: (follows Sasuke and Naruto) ...

Fire: Anyway, this is a double upload, so go to the other chapter already! Stop reading my nonsense!

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	38. Thirty seven: Fade

Fire: A double upload! (throws puppets into the audience)

Sasori: Don't just throw them out. Do you know how much time I spent on those?

Sakura: Just throw him too so he can leave me alone. (points at Sasori)

Naruto: (throws Sasori at Sakura) Like this?

Sakura: No, baka!

Sasuke: A few words to the readers who have been with this crazy lunatic from the beginning. A few things changed this year, so the stories are being uploaded at strange intervals. First, Pixel died. Um...the computer blacked out from overuse and all the memory was erased. So, Fire and Sand rebooted Pixel and bought the latest addition to the electronic mountain, Gif, the second computer. Then, Fire and Sand's grandmother was sent to the hospital, adding another few dozen points on the to do list. And of course, Sand's regular hospital visits, the appointments with specialists to...ahem...assess the problems with Sand's...um...I'm not going to go into it. Sand doesn't want everyone to know. Other than that, Fire is working six days a week because there just isn't enough people and the boss can't find anyone to fill in the positions.

Fire: You make it sound like I have—

Itachi: No life?

Kisame: You _have_ no life. If you did, you wouldn't be holding that thing.

Fire: (hugging imaginary an Kubo-sensei) But I ran out of people to hug.

Kubo-sensei: (crying) Dareka, tasukete kudasai.

Itachi: Why is he speaking in Japanese?

Fire: He speaks the way I imagine he speaks. (crazy fangirl hug)

Naruto: Who's Kubo-sensei? Is he from a hidden village we don't know about?

Sakura: He's the creator of Bleach. Just ignore the blatant disregard for Masashi-sensei has a potential hugging subject.

Fire: Ahem. (throws Kubo-sensei into a corner and grabs Kisame) Back to normal, right? Anyway, The story is ending soon. I hope it doesn't reach forty-five chapters. I had planned on only about forty to begin with, but I kept adding things, and it got longer. (sighs)

Kisame: Why does Fire have to hug me? Why can't—

Fire: Samehada! SamehadaSamehadaSamehadaSAMEHADA! (trying to grab Samehada from Kisame's back)

Kisame: ...

Itachi: Fire watched episode 84 and 85 again, and is now even more obsessed with Kisame. If you don't remember the episode, it's the one where I first meet Naruto.

Sakura: And don't you call Naruto, Naruto-_kun? _Why are you calling him Naruto now?

Itachi: ...

Fire: You'll have to wait until the next book to find out. Itachi doesn't appear in Searching. You'll have to wait for the next book to find out. Now, Tobi! Why are you just standing around! Chapter 37! Chapter 37!

Tobi: (crying) But, Fire-sama, I thought you were still talk—

Fire: The next chapter!

Tobi: (tosses chapter 37 to the audience) Yes, Fire-sama!

---------------------------

Note: I mentioned the word "unwashable" before, but if you don't remember, here's a reminder. It's not a real word. --;; I created it.

---------------------------

**Chapter 37: Fade**

_**'T**he sunlight is breaking. The grey light that filled our world has already faded. Everyone has flown away , except for me. Because my wings had broken long ago. The sky is already too far away. I can't reach it anymore. But you're still here. With the sun burning through my tears, I can still see you standing, waiting, because in the end, even after I've shouted for you to leave, after I've pushed you away with bloody fists, and after I've tried explaining that I could never follow you into the heavens, you've decided to wait until the day I can fly again. Because without you, the sky can only hold loneliness.'_

**T**he bright sunlight chased him as surely as she. Already, the night was fading, and the sun was pushing through the clouds overhead. But still, the rain fell. The air around her was still grey. In the back of her mind, she realized that she was probably insane. The ghosts clinging to her body had finally driven her insane. The red hair that shone wetly in the dim morning light looked too familiar to be real, because in reality, the only redhead she knew was the Kazekage, and he wouldn't be in Konoha. And even if he _was_ the person running in front of her, she definitely wouldn't be chasing Gaara.

She wanted to shout out loud and stop him. She wanted to see exactly who was hiding around the corner of her memory. But fear gripped tightly around her curiosity, sinking its claws deeper into her voice so that her words wouldn't come out. If she shouted, he would never stop running away. If she shouted, she would never see him again. If she said anything, he would vanish.

So all she could do was force chakra into her legs and try to run faster.

_'I finally found you.'_ He couldn't just leave her. _'Ikanaide!'_ He couldn't leave her too!

She was already alone. She had realized it long before Sasuke left Konoha, long before the twelve-year-old Naruto followed him to the edge of their world, and vanished. She was left with only memories, and the promises of days she would never see. Even Kakashi had disappeared into S-ranked missions, only to avoid her. Being with her former sensei was too awkward after she discovered how he felt about her. His being with her must have been too awkward as well if he felt he had to leave the village, just to forget her.

And her parents were distant. Whenever they came to the hospital, they only looked sadly at her, wordlessly. They always sat, watching her. Without words, they came, and without worlds, they left. She didn't even know them anymore.

And she couldn't bring herself to step between Naruto and Sasuke, not while knowing...not while understanding that if she came to them, she would become a horrible monster, someone who only wanted to destroy their happiness. Because she still wanted Sasuke to herself...even if she had already let go of him.

In one night, the world she knew, the world she lived in, and the world she understood had vanished completely.

So she couldn't let him leave. In the back of her mind, she had known that she was forgetting someone...someone very important. Whenever she listed the names of the important people in her life, she counted them across her fingers, but could never remember that last name. She had known that there was one more, even though she couldn't remember his name, or his face, or even the sound of his voice. There was always one more. There was always that one person she couldn't remember.

And it was him!

"I said don't go!" Sakura knew that she hadn't actually shouted to him. _'Ikanaide.'_ It was only in her head. She had only thought the word. She had never actually called out to him. Even though she had heard his voice calling so many times, she had ignored him and pretended that she hadn't heard it. She had never called back, had never said that she was there. And now that he was leaving, she couldn't let him go. She was selfish, and she understood that she was selfish. But she just couldn't let him go. "Don't―" Sakura's hands could almost reach him, but as she took that one step that would have brought her to him, he took that step away. _'Ikanaide.'_

Don't go.

She wanted to say it aloud. She wanted him to hear those words and understand that he shouldn't leave. But the memory of those words stopped her. Last time she said them... The last person to hear those words left her. Sasuke had left her. And she didn't see him again for two and a half years. If she said those words now, and he left... She couldn't wait another three years to see him again!

"You can't leave me!" The name burst through her mind as she leapt forwards. Her body resisted, but she just couldn't ignore him. She couldn't stand and watch him walk away anymore. "Sasori!" She caught him before he could take another step.

**N**aruto was an idiot. The Kyuubi knew that Naruto was an idiot, so he didn't wait for him to walk out of the way on his own. If he had waited, Sasuke would have killed them. Before the chains of blue lightning hit them, the bijuu pushed the blond shinobi away. Naruto only watched through the red chakra engulfing his body, tainting his vision with impossible crimson. Through that bloodied view, Sasuke's pained face stared back at him, shadowed by the regret of almost killing him.

"Naruto, I..." Sasuke wanted to say something, something that could ease the pain of this mistake. If the nagashi had hit Naruto... If the Kyuubi hadn't deflected it... _'I almost killed Naruto.'_ Slowly, the vision formed in his mind. _'Like that time.'_

Sasuk had tried to forget it. He didn't want to believe a memory like that. He didn't want to believe that something like that had happened! He had wanted to kill Itachi, only Itachi. He hadn't thought that Naruto would come after him. When he left Konoha, at that time, he had told him to wait for his return. He hadn't thought that Naruto would want to help him, would want to... No. It wasn't that he didn't think that Naruto didn't want to help him. It was that he didn't want Naruto to see that part of him: the Avenger. He didn't want Naruto to see the invisible blood staining his hands, his face, his entire body with that unwashable film of sticky red.

And in the end, Naruto died too.

No one else was around, no other enemies. Back then, he had already killed Kisame, and his brother. By the time Naruto arrived, he couldn't even move anymore. There were only the sounds of Sakura's screams and Kakashi's footsteps as the world faded into darkness. There was no one else there to hurt Naruto so...

Sasuke wasn't an idiot. If he was as dense as Naruto, perhaps he would have been happier. He could have pretended that everything was fine, that nothing like that had happened. But the truth was, he had suffered too long without Naruto to convince himself that fantasy was the truth. Naruto had died.

And he had killed him.

There were no other explanations. Right before he killed Itachi, the fuuma shuriken had left his hand, had flown through the canopy, and was arching back toward his brother. The wire in his hand had made sure that it would hit him, even if his attack failed. But that was before he plunged the last of his Chidori into Itachi's chest. That was before Naruto came running. That was before he threw Itachi's corpse aside, to rot on the forest floor.

_'I almost killed Naruto again.'_

As Sasuke stared horrified at Naruto, he wished the blond shinobi would say something to him. If only Naruto would say something, instead of just sitting there, watching him. Was it that shocking to know that he had tried to kill him...again? Hadn't he tried to kill him so many times since their first fight on the hospital rooftop, since their fight at Shuumatsu no Tani, since their reunion amongst the ruins of Orochimaru's compound at Kusa no Kuni? Did this time have to be so different from those other times just because he had already accomplished his goal of killing his brother and avenging his clan?

"Naruto...I..." Sasuke couldn't watch him anymore! "Don't leave without an explanation, dobe!" He reached through the Kyuubi's burning chakra and grabbed Naruto's arm. Even if his hands melted, his bones would still drag Naruto home. "We're leaving!"

But amongst the thinning rain, Naruto's clear voice stopped him. "Teme." The blond shinobi's soft words froze him more thoroughly than the winters of Yuki no Kuni. "Why can't you be happy?" Naruto tore his arm from Sasuke's hands. "You can't just leave Sakura-chan alone!" Even though he didn't want to leave him... "What about your cla―!"

Sasuke slapped him.

Beneath the falling rain and the silent morning light which broke through the grey clouds, the sound of that slap tore through the air. Naruto's blue eyes shone with unnatural brightness as they teared, startled by the throbbing spreading across his reddening cheek.

"..." In Sasuke's face, there was only frustrated anger, no remorse.

"I'm not going back." Naruto spoke as he looked away, hiding the tears streaking his face. "I already decided..." ...he would leave Sasuke alone. He would stop standing in the way of his goals, his dreams. "I―"

"Urusai!" Sasuke sensed Sai in the background, watching, and he couldn't find the words to say what he wanted to say. _'Dobe.'_ It wasn't as if he didn't know, didn't understand what Naruto was doing. No one truly wanted S-ranked missions. Other than Naruto, no one wanted something so dangerous. "You're trying to kill yourself!"

"Don't accuse me, teme!" Naruto was lying. He was trying so hard to hide the fact that he was lying, but Sasuke's annoyed frown told him that it wasn't working. Even though he was trying to make Sasuke happy, to just let him leave him without guilt, or regrets... "Leave me alone!" He had to force him to accept it. Sasuke just didn't understand that there was no other way. It was impossible. "Go home!" Even as painful tears clouded his vision, Naruto knew that he had to leave him. "Sasuke..." He whispered as he dug the tears from his eyes. "Gomen." And the kage bunshin vanished, leaving only smoke and Naruto's lingering words.

"Naruto!" As the last remnants of the bunshin faded, chakra filled Sasuke's body. He should have known. If he had only _seen_ through it! _'You can't escape!'_ Red spread across his eyes, scanning across the treetops for anomalous movement, for signs of Naruto. He couldn't have gone far. _'I won't let you!'_

Everyone always left him in the end. Everyone. His mother... His father... His clan... His brother... The girls that used to follow him... The classmates he knew in the Academy... The many sensei that taught him... Kakashi... The Hokage... Everyone, except Naruto. That was why Naruto wasn't allowed to leave him! Naruto must be with him, must always be by his side, forever. Even if he searched for days, weeks, months, years, until death and beyond death, he wouldn't return to Konoha without Naruto!

_'You can't leave me!'_

Sasuke's hands tore through the thick foliage. Naruto was there. He knew that he was there. He knew, even before his hands tightened around a firm arm. Naruto's arm. "Naruto!"

"Hidoi-dabayo." Naruto's voice came through the leaves as Sasuke dragged him forwards. "Sasuke-mo, Tsunade-baachan-mo." Sasuke for not letting go... Tsunade for sending him on this disappointing mission...

He had asked for an S-ranked mission because he thought it would end quickly. If he died, there was no turning back. If he died, he couldn't change his mind, because he wanted to change his mind so many times since deciding to leave Sasuke.

As Sasuke pulled Naruto from the trees, thick red smeared across the canopy.

"Kyuubi-mo."

"Naruto, wha―" Naruto's arms slid from his hands, and the blond shinobi fell to the ground far below. Sticky red stained his hands with surreal colour, wetter than the blood covering Naruto's chest. His eyes could only widen with horror as he turned toward Naruto's limp body. "Naruto!" The jinchuuriki had stabbed himself―or someone else had stabbed him, Sasuke didn't know which it was―with a kunai.

But the Kyuubi wasn't going to allow Naruto to die. Not a second time. The wound evaporated around the kunai, bleeding further as new flesh and skin tried to push the sharp metal out. New blood oozed from around the weapon, covering Naruto's bright orange jacket with darker red.

"Kuso!" Sasuke leapt to the ground, wrenched the kunai from Naruto's body, and worriedly watched opening fade before shouting, "What are you thinking, dobe!" Naruto was _really_ trying to kill himself!

"Urusai."

Sasuke didn't understand. Naruto knew that he didn't understand, because Sasuke just _couldn't_ understand the pain of knowing he was standing in the way. Sasuke had never thought of anyone other than himself, and Naruto had never really thought of himself before. Even as he tried to leave him, he was only thinking of Sasuke, as much as Sasuke thought of Sasuke. Naruto didn't want to hold him back. He didn't want to chain him to a fate without the goals he had worked so hard to achieve, goals he had given up everything to accomplish. Now that Sasuke was so close to having everything he always wanted, Naruto just couldn't take it away from him.

If he couldn't die, Sasuke would never let go of him.

"You're not listening, Naruto!" His hands grabbed the blond shinobi's wrists as soon as he saw the glint of metal in the dim sunlight. A second kunai. Naruto was serious about leaving him. "Dobe!" His shaking hands strained against Naruto's arms as they tried to wrench the kunai away. "Let go!" If he didn't get the kunai away, Naruto would kill himself!

"You can't stop me!"

Sasuke tore the kunai from Naruto's hands, throwing it into the trees. "Naruto!" His hands dug into the jinchuuriki's shoulders as they shook him. "You..." Frustration filled Sasuke's thoughts. _'I won't let you leave me!'_

"I already said goodbye," Naruto's disappointed voice said softly. "So let go of me!" He pulled his arms, as if he could so easily detach himself from Sasuke.

"Goodbye? When!" Sasuke had never heard a goodbye from Naruto.

"Right before your face changed!" Naruto's hands flew up, knocking Sasuke away.

_'My face...'_ Naruto had mentioned it not long ago. His face was different. Was it the genjutsu?

But this wasn't the time to wonder about that! Sasuke caught Naruto's arm and lifted him from the ground before he could run away. But Naruto kicked him. His foot slammed into his chest, knocking the air out of his body. And the blond shinobi was running. Again.

"Naruto, my face hasn't changed!"

Naruto was glaring at him, but his hands only tightened around the blond shinobi's arm. Even though he didn't want to hurt Naruto... Even though he really didn't want to hurt him, he just couldn't let him run away. He couldn't let him run away when he knew that Naruto didn't want to leave him. The sadness of those footsteps still filled the air, calling him.

Sasuke just couldn't ignore it!

"I don't like this Sasuke." Naruto's free arm rose, slicing across Sasuke's fingers. Before the reddened kunai could slice through them, the dark-haired shinobi dropped the jinchuuriki.

Sasuke didn't want to hurt Naruto, but Naruto... As Sasuke stared at his bloody hands, he didn't know _what_ Naruto wanted anymore. "Naruto..." Sasuke could have left him at that moment. He could have just let him run away, but he still didn't want to hurt him. Even though his wounded fingers felt like they would drop from his hands, even though Naruto had done something like this just to escape from him, he couldn't let him leave! "Listen to me!" Sasuke shunshin-ed across the short distance to Naruto. His hands snapped forwards, sinking into Naruto's arms. "Stop running away, dobe!" They tightened, unable to loosen for a moment, thinking that Naruto would escape. They refused to let go, even as he stared at Naruto's pained face...

...even though Naruto's arm snapped.

Sasuke had said that his face wasn't different, but it was. When Naruto last saw him, his long hair was tied loosely behind him, as if he he hadn't touched it for months, and his tired eyes flickered between red and black, as if he had already used too much chakra to hold the sharingan for much longer. When Naruto last saw him, he was taller. When Naruto last saw him, he had said goodbye, and decided that he wouldn't see him again. Sasuke hadn't said anything, but he left immediately, as if giving his consent. Naruto had thought that Sasuke had agreed to it. He would leave him, and he would...

"Teme!" Naruto held his limp arm. Pain raked across his thin skin, stinging with black blood that coated his muscles and clotted around the shattered bone. "Leave me alone!" He only wanted Sasuke to be happy so he couldn't keep running after him! What was he still running after him!

But even though Naruto was shouting, Sasuke couldn't hear him. His wide eyes only stared at his horrific hands, at the bloodied fingers that had unconsciously hurt Naruto. He had promised himself that he would do it. He would bring Naruto home. Now, he wasn't sure if he could do it. And if he couldn't...

"You didn't listen," Sasuke said resolvedly as he turned to the blond chuunin again. This time, his lightless black eyes stared with certainty. "I'm not asking anymore. I'll kill you before you leave me!"

"Then do it." Even with Sasuke's seriousness, Naruto wasn't afraid, because if he died, he couldn't destroy Sasuke's dreams anymore.

**T**o stop changing, Sasori ran. There was no other option. If he had stood at Konoha's gates and waited for her, he would have definitely become human. His memories of being a puppet would have vanished as soon as she touched him. He would have ceased to be himself.

His emotions still rumbled in his chest, threatening to force his body back to Sakura. But if he turned, he would see her chasing after him. If he turned, he would know that she was there, searching for him. If he turned, he would know that she had heard his silent voice calling in the night.

"I said wait!"

Even though her words filled the early morning air, he refused to hear it. He couldn't have heard it, because if he had heard it, he would know that he was there. If he had heard it, he wouldn't be able to convince himself that it was an illusion, that it was only a hallucination. So, with invisible hands, he covered his ears. He didn't hear anything. Sakura couldn't be there!

"Don't―"

Sasori focussed on everything but her voice. The green trees rushing past them... The warm rain falling from the sky... The bright sunlight pushing through the thinning clouds...

"Sasori!"

The girl who slammed into his back.

No. He couldn't ignore her. Even though he had tried to leave, she chased after him. Even without her memories of him, she still came after him. "Sakura," he said slowly as he suppressed the emotions raging for control of his body. His hands longed to touch her. His eyes long to see her. His ears wanted to listen to her voice. His body wanted to feel her warmth. He wanted to hold her forever and never let go. He wanted to watch her forever so that they would never be apart. His deaf ears never wanted to hear words as much as the words she had to say. His body never felt as cold as when she was far away. But if he touched her, if he looked at her, if he tried to say anything to her, she would punch him and tell him to go away.

Because in her eyes, he was only the irritating puppet from Sunagakure.

"Get off me!" He shouted because if he said king words, he would want to run to her again. And because he wanted to continue running away, he pushed her off his back. But as he rose from the ground, his eyes finally sight of her. As he tried to look away, her eyes only held him tighter. With the soft shower overhead, it was unmistakeable. The water flowing down the sides of her damp face, the wetness of her eyes, the pale breath forming on the crisp morning air... "Sakura, you're..." She was crying.

His hands moved on their own, running rough fingers down the side of her face, wiping the tears away. And she was only staring at him.

"No." She backed away, her arms rising, soaking the tears into her hands. "Don't touch me!" She smacked him. With shaky hands, she hit him. Even though she could have crushed his head with a single superhuman fist, her arms held no strength. "Why are you here! Go away!"

Sakura didn't understand. She couldn't understand what had happened. Only a moment ago, wasn't he someone else? Only a moment ago... _'Sasori's leaving Konoha?'_ If he was leaving, why didn't anyone tell her?

But she didn't care. She _really_ didn't care if he left Konoha or not! She tried to convince herself that it's true. It was only Akasuna no Sasori. He was a horrible person. She... She had called out his name. Somehow, she had known that it was him before he even turned around.

"Leave me alone!"

She really didn't care, so why was she so angry? Why was she so frustrated that no one had told her he was leaving?

But even though she didn't care what Sasori did... "Yamete." ...as soon as she saw him turn around... "Sasori!" ...she had to stop him. Her hands rushed forwards, pulling him back before he could walk away. "..." All before she realized she had done it.

_'What's wrong with me!'_ Inner Sakura shouted within her horrified mind, but all she heard was her loud heartbeat as Sasori stared at her. _'Let go of him!'_

Her body shook, threatening to collapse under his expectant gaze. She didn't understand what he expected of her, but as that expectation slowly became disappointment, nervousness filled her body. Not even Sasuke had made her feel so horrible before. "What?" His voice held irritation as he spoke. "If you have nothing to say―" He yanked his arm out of her hands before she could think of anything that would stop him. "You hate me. Don't force yourself." Even though he said those words, she still couldn't believe him.

_'Uzaiyo.'_ It was all that was missing. Sasuke's words to her, long ago, as she tried to stop him from leaving. She was annoying, and she knew that she was annoying. If Sasori said that she was annoying too...

"Who would want you to―" Sakura latched onto him before he could walk away. "..."

She kept expecting him to say something. Even though her inner self was shouting, she couldn't hear her. She only wanted to stop him from leaving, because she didn't want him to leave her, because in the end, everyone left her. And all she could do was run after them.

_'I've gone insane!' _Inner Sakura shouted faintly in her mind. _'Someone stop me! Shannaro! I'm touching Akasuna no Sasori!'_

"No," Sakura said quickly as her hands loosened, allowing Sasori's arm to slip from her grasp. He had affected her somehow. He was making her act this way! "Go away!"

"I'm trying!" Sasori shouted before turning away again. "Stop stopping me!" This time, he ran.

And he disappeared before she could change her mind.

Sakura didn't realize it until that moment. As she looked up, as she stared at the empty space where Sasori stood only a moment before, her chest hallowed further. The edges of the voice gnawed over her chest until it encompassed her body. "Sasori?" He was gone again, and again, she felt the immense loneliness that had disappeared somewhere between leaving the hospital and Sasori's leaving. And she couldn't stop herself from running after him.

_'Sakura! Stop running after him! Do you want to become a nukenin!'_ Inner Sakura shouted determinedly as Sakura caught Sasori again, grabbing his arm and throwing him into a tree trunk. _'Don't forget about Sasuke-kun, shannaro! He's with Naruto right now!'_ Inner Sakura shrieked frantically. _'How can you still think about this guy, unless...unless...'_

"No! I love Sasuke-kun!" Sakura shouted as the accusation reached her. "I love Sasuke-kun!" She shouted, even as Sasori looked across the leaf-filtered light to Sakura. "I love Sasuke-kun!"

"Is that why you stopped me?" Sasori frowned bietterly as he pushed himself to his feet. His whole body shook with acute pain, but not even that pain was enough to block out Sakura's words. He didn't want to hear something like that, not after she had stopped him so forcefully. "Are you insane?" He wished he had his puppet body, his puppets, or even _one_ puppet. If he had them, at least he could defend himself, could stop her from chasing after him when he tried to leave her. If he was still a puppet, he wouldn't care about her anymore. If he was a puppet, he would be able to control his emotions. If he was still a puppet, being tossed against a tree wouldn't have disoriented him so much, and his legs wouldn't be so embarrassingly weak as he walked away.

But Sakura saw his movement as soon as he took his first step. Her hands clasped around him immediately. "Sasori!" She shouted as the Suna-nin stumbled out of her grasp, pulled himself outo f her hands and ignored her. "Sasori!" Her hands clawed through the air, even as Inner Sakura pulled them back. _'Baka! Stop running after him!'_ Her body moved on its own. Sakura didn't know what to say to herself. _'Why do you care if he leaves Konoha!'_ Care... Sakura didn't want to believe that it was true. Did she really _care_ about him? _'Shannaro!' _

Sakura flew forwards, latching to the redhead before he could run further away. "..." She didn't care anymore. She didn't care that he was Akasuna no Sasori, as long as... "Ikanaide." She buried her head into his back, and slowly, the emptiness melted from her body. "Onegai dakara koko ni ite!"

Sakura's words sank into the silent sunlight. As she stood, locked against his back, Sakura didn't know what else to do. And as he stood, frozen by her touch, Sasori didn't know what to do either. The words were already said, and the words were already heard. They couldn't pretend that they never existed.

_His irritated voice spoke, even as his gentle hands brushed her heavy hair from her broad forehead._

The words were already said, just as before, and Sakura couldn't catch them, wrap them up, and put them back again.

_The darkness pressed incessantly in her windowless cell._

And Sakura's fractured memories slowly surfaced.

_Within Orochimaru's compound, there was no night and no day. Below ground, there was no sun and no sky to tell the time. There was only the light of the low candles, the smell of black smoke from the hallway sconces and the thick shadows reaching from every corner. In that place, Sakura had waited a long time for Orochimaru to teach her something, anything helpful, anything that would make her stronger, strong enough to use a kunai to wipe away the sadness in her heart, because even though she could never bring the Sasuke and Naruto in her memories back, she could certainly avenge them._

_But after teaching Edo Tensei to her, Orochimaru vanished again, leaving her to practice and perfect it on her own. _

_Her body ached, and her hands creaked with blood. Around her, black streaks of ash and piles of earth were scattered. And the voices of the dead were already clouding her mind. She even thought she heard him once, Sasuke's voice in the darkness, but she was alone...except for the person sitting in a corner of the windowless room. And he never spoke to her._

_But it was only the nightmare she was remembering, the endless nightmare. After she forgot Sasuke and Naruto's faces, their voices, and their true personalities, the nightmare began. Left with herself, she saw nothing but pain. _

_The first time he spoke to her was during that nightmare. _

_She had heard it again, Sasuke's voice in the darkness, calling from down the hall, calling with words she couldn't understand. Sasuke was dead, but she still heard his voice. It was Orochimaru's compound, and anything was possible. Even though she had seen Sasuke die before her eyes, had watched his cremation, had stood at his wake and was present for his burial, she believed that Sasuke was truly somewhere within that compound. With that voice and those faraway words rising from the halls, she believed it._

_She didn't realize that it was a nightmare until she felt that cool hand on her forehead, smoothing her sweat-covered hair from her face. "Irritating little girl." His first words to her were annoyed, but his hand was gentle._

"_Dakara..." Sakura curled tighter into herself as she remembered the words escaping from her mouth. "Onegai dakara koko ni ite!" She had tried so hard to stop him, so why wouldn't he stay with her? Why did he have to leave?_

"_I'll pretend you weren't talking to me." Because asking him to stay with her was a command that he couldn't accept. Even though she clung tightly to his arms, Sasori didn't want to believe that she was speaking to him._

Even a year later, as Sakura clung tightly to him, he refused to believe that she was speaking to him. "Sakur―"

But before Sasori could say anything, Naruto's scream sliced through the air.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura shouted as the memory of that shout rippled through her body. Sasuke and Naruto... Sasuke and Naruto were―

Unable to ignore the painful voice that had vibrated across the air, Sakura turned from Sasori. _'The shout came from...'_ ...that direction!

And she vanished before Sasori could say what he had wanted to say to her.

**End Chapter 37**

---------------------------

Fire's English tidbits for those who care:

Part two of spelling rules: if adding a suffix, when to change the "y" at the end of a word to an "i." For those of you who don't know what a suffix is, a suffix is an ending, a bound form that can't stand on its own. Some examples are -er, -ing, -ize, and -ish. The rule is: change the "y" to "i" if the "y" precedes a consonant unless the suffix begins with "i" or if the "y" in the word is preceded by a vowel. If the suffix begins with "i," keep the "y" except before "-ize." For example, the "y" in copy is preceded by a consonant, so the "y" becomes "i" when adding the suffix "-er" to become "copier;" however, copy keeps the "y" when the suffix "-ist" is used because the suffix already begins with an "i," so the word becomes copyist, and not copiist. --;; On the other hand, words like toy don't drop the "y" since the "y" is preceded by a vowel instead of a consonant, so the "y" is kept when adding the suffix "-ed" to become "toyed," and the "y" is still kept when using a suffix beginning with an "i," like "-ing." Toy becomes toying instead of toiing. --;; But of course, like rules in any language, there are exceptions. Proper names never change the "y" before plural endings. So, the Harry family becomes the Harrys, and not the Harries. There are some one-syllable words where the "y" is preceded by a vowel, but they change their endings sometimes, like with pay which changes the "y" to "i" to become paid, but keeps the "y" to become payer, or payment. And there are some one-syllable words where the "y" is preceded by a consonant, but the spellings vary, as with dry, which keeps the "y" to become dryness, but can either change the "y" to "i" to become drier, or keep the "y" to become dryer. --;; Believe me or not, both is correct.

Fire's babbling:

Sasori: Fire! I'm going to kill you!

Fire: Waah! Kisame! (runs behind Kisame) You have to protect me with Samehada!

Kisame: ...

Sasuke: So specific.

Naruto: I'll do it!

Kisame: Don't touch Samehada! (smacks Naruto away)

Itachi: (catches Naruto) ...

Sasuke: (grabs Naruto away) Don't touch my dobe!

Fire: Anyway, another complicated chapter has come to an end. If you're confused about Sai, I'll be explaining his actions next chapter.

Sai: If you've forgotten what I did—

Fire: The idiot intervened when Sasuke tried to stop Naruto, but did nothing to stop Sasuke from trying to kill Naruto. --;; Confused? I'm sure you are.

Sai: I have a perfectly good explanation for it.

Naruto: You watched while he broke my arm!

Sasuke: That's a reference to the fight at Shuumatsu no Tani. Naruto said that he would bring me home even if he had to break my arms and legs. I'm not that optimistic.

Naruto: So you're going to kill me?

Sasuke: (smiling malevolently) Before you can leave me.

Naruto: (runs to Itachi) Why didn't you kill him when you had the chance!

Itachi: (stares at Naruto) He's not worth killing.

Fire: I'm sure you get the idea, right? Right? (looks around hopefully) Anyway, ask if there's anything confusing. I have a lot of things on my mind, so I've forgotten three different paragraph additions I had wanted to add to this chapter. It's probably important to the overall comprehension of this chapter, so ask if there's _anything_ you don't understand! And since I mentioned it, I'll mention it again. I forgot three points I wanted to make in this chapter, so if I remember it, I'll be rewriting this chapter. Copy it or whatever while you can. I'm not sure if it's going to change later. --;;

Sasuke: You're replacing me with Itachi, aren't you! I know it! Look at all the Itachi references!

Naruto: Itachi? I was talking to you, teme!

Sasuke: ...

Fire: I'm foreshadowing Itachi's return already, but don't ask for clarification. That's not going to happen until the next book in the series. Now stop reading my rant and review! Was anything confusing? Did the chapter make sense? Do you understand exactly what's happening right now, or did everything just come out of the blue? The plot's not progressing logically? Waah! Why isn't the plot progressing logically!

Kisame: (whacks Fire in the head with Samehada) ...

Sasuke: (watches Fire fall to the bottom of the screen and slide out of sight) You could have killed Fire.

Kisame: Samehada doesn't cut. It shaves. Besides, Fire has no chakra so—

Naruto: Blood! There's blood! Sakura-chan! Help Fire! There's blood! (chases Sakura out of the window)

Kisame: (runs away quickly) ...

Sasuke: (sighs, picks up Fire and heads for Konoha Hospital) ...

---------------------------


	39. Thirty eight: Chains

Naruto: (singing "Happy Birthday" in the background) Happy birthday to me. Happy Birthday to _me_. Happy birthday to me-e.

Itachi: (trying to talk over Naruto's singing) For everyone still waiting for this story to upload, Fire is in the hospital. So, I'm taking over all writing duties.

Sasuke: (annoyed) I'm the co-writer. _I _should be taking over all writing duties! (pushes Itachi out of the window)

Naruto: (still singing) Happy birthday to me!

Itachi: (climbs back into the window and hands Naruto a cup ramen to stop his off-key singing) ...

Naruto: Yay! (opening the ramen and heating water) Fire's in the hospital? Poor Fire.

Sakura: Poor Fire? What about us! We're still in the middle of a story and Masashi-sama is making it into an AU!

Itachi: I'd like to officially make this story an AU since Orochimaru died a while ago and the storyline doesn't work without him.

Sasuke: You'reannouncing it? _I_ should be announcing it!

Itachi: Then announce it.

Sasuke: (glares at Itachi) I can't. _You_ already did.

Itachi: (satisfied with Sasuke's reaction) And to sum up the last few months, Fire is recovering slowly. There is a labour strike in the city where Fire lives that has lasted since the end of July so we haven't been able to upload. In fact, we've set up internet just so we can do this from the comfort of our own home. Or at least, Fire's home. (looks around) If we can find a place to put everything. --;; And Fire's grandmother passed away in late July, the day before Sand's birthday, so try not to be too angry about the hiatus.

Kisame: So I'm free for now?

Sakura: Actually, I think we should free Kubo-sensei. (looks at the man tied in the corner) I think he's scared.

Sasuke: I already freed him.

Itachi: (explains) Sasuke understands crazy fangirls.

Sasuke: That's a bunshin.

Naruto: (waving his hand through the bunshin) Kakkoii!

Itachi: Moving on with business...we'll be uploading these chapters as soon as possible, even with Fire out of commission. I want to get out of this crazy AU. And since this year, Naruto's birthday falls on a Wednesday, we'll be uploading on Wednesday until the next year.

Naruto: My birthday! That's today!

Sasuke: There's no "we," Itachi.

Itachi: I'm in charge. Are you excluding yourself, oroka na otouto? (glares at Sasuke) Besides, we're working on something more important than this stupid SasuNaru.

Sasuke: The storyline isn't stupid!

Naruto: Story! Upload the story!

Itachi: We'll be upload chapters on consecutive days. Which days will be a surprise. And those of you who weren't paying attention for the last two chapters. We uploaded the translations of the phrases at the beginning of the chapter. (irritated) Pay more attention.

Kisame: The "or else" is implied.

Naruto: Stop threatening the readers and just upload the story! If Fire knew what you were doing, Itachi―

Itachi: (glares at Naruto) ...

Naruto: (scared) Tobi!

Tobi: (runs up with chapter 38) Here it is! (throws it onto the window)

---------------------------

Japanese phrases that appear (for those of you that have no idea where these came from and/or what they mean):

Koko ni ite – (chapter 181/episode 109; said by Sakura to Sasuke) Stay here. ie. Stay here (with me)

Hitotsu itsute oku – (chapter 309/episode na; said by Kyuubi to Naruto) I'll tell you one thing

Naruto-wa korosu na – (chapter 309/episode na; said by Kyuubi to Naruto) Naruto, don't kill. ie. Naruto, don't kill him. ie. Naruto, don't kill Sasuke.

Koukai suru koto ni – (chapter 309/episode na; said by Kyuubi to Naruto) Regret this. ie. You'll regret it. ie. You'll regret killing Sasuke.

---------------------------

**Chapter 38: Chains**

_**'F**or a long time, I've thought about it, and I've decided. I have to leave you. Do you remember when these ties were new, when our bonds had yet to deepen? The softness of those ties... They were so fragile, but they never tore, even when we pulled on them. Even when we tried to slice through them with the sharp kunai of our mistakes, with the many shuriken of wrong paths we walked down. But over time, those ties strengthened, and they tightened. The softness they once possessed have faded. That lightness had been replaced by rough shackles. These heavy chains weighing my body are what keeps me from my dream, because out of all my dreams, there is only one that can't be achieved with you. I'm still dreaming of the day you'll finally be happy to be by my side, because certainly, you can't be happy the way we are now, not while day by day, I'm crushing your dreams. Not while day by day, these chains strangle the light of your dreams from the sky.'_

**T**he moment Sakura left him, Sasori wanted to run away. He could have run away. That was what he kept telling himself, even as he told his feet to move. He kept shouting at himself. It was his chance. If he didn't run now, she would return. If he didn't run, he wouldn't be able to leave anymore. But he couldn't move. His body refused to listen. _'Koko ni ite.'_ She meant... Sakura meant for him to stay with her. Even though he was no longer her mindless puppet, he couldn't ignore that command.

She had finally touched him. H had feared that moment, but it was already too late to undo it, and it was too soon to begin forgetting it. What mattered was that his old self, the Sasori that had existed up to this point, had already shattered. On the ground, the shards of himself that had kept him from being with Sakura were already burning. The few that he could save, the few pieces he could salvage, he wasn't even sure if he could recognize himself anymore.

The Sasori who had lived in Suna, the S-ranked criminal Sasori, the Sasori that Sakura had summoned, and the Sasori that existed now...he wondered if they could all be the same person. He wondered if he was still capable of being those other parts of himself now that Sakura had destroyed him. Now that Sakura had made him into a real person...

...was he no longer able to become a puppet?

"Sakura..."

Her words were still so clear in the morning light. _'Sasuke-kun!'_ Before he could ask her, she had already answered his question.

_'...did you remember me?'_

She had shouted his name. When he tried to leave her, she had stopped him so many times that he had thought... He didn't know what to think anymore. Now that she had caught him, she left him...all on her own. As if she never wanted him in the first place.

Sakura was truly heartless. If she was only going to leave him, if she was only going to shout at him, if she was only going to tell him to go away again, why did she stop him? He wanted to know. He had to know. Even if she ran away from him, he had to know why she didn't let him leave.

Because maybe she really did remember him, somewhere deep within her many memories.

_'Someone... Someone, help!'_

"Sakura!" Fear clambered over his body, freezing his heart. But he knew that it wasn't him. These weren't his emotions.

Sakura was in danger!

Sasori turned in all directions, searching through the empty trees for a sign. He kept hearing her screaming fear, the coldness that tightly gripped his chest, but he couldn't see where those loud shouts were coming from. The link between them had already faded so much that he couldn't find her, just because he was looking for her, just because he wanted to know where she was. _'Sakura, where are you!'_ His frantic thoughts raced across the surface of his brain as his mind combed through the empty air, searching for the slightest clue that she was there, that it was the right direction, that Sakura would be there if he would only head that way.

He had found her so easily that he had taken it for granted. Those days she left his side without saying where she had gone, that day she lost control of her cursed seal after Sasuke almost killed himself, all those times he needed to find her, all he had to do was close his eyes and he would feel her presence. And he would immediately know where she was. But now, as he closed his eyes, even with all the effort of reaching out to her, there was nothing. Only emptiness.

_'Where is she? I have to find her!'_ Mysterious sorrow raked across the back of his mind, tearing through his patience. "Sakura!"

Everything melted away. His fear of Sakura, his desire to remain himself, his hatred of Kakashi, the past that he had wanted to hold onto, everything that could have stopped him from returning to Sakura, everything that could have convinced him to leave her...all of it vanished.

And he saw her...right before the Kyuubi's red chakra swept across the forest.

**F**rom the other end of the thick branch, Sasuke's cold red eyes watched him, and Naruto couldn't stop shivering from the dark-haired shinobi's heavy killing intent. Within him, the Kyuubi rustled restlessly. Already, burning red chakra covered his body. Naruto's arm cracked painfully as the Kyuubi pulled its broken bones back together. Already, the swelling bruise around his wrists had vanished, even though the pain hadn't yet subsided. Naruto still vividly remembered Sasuke's angry hands crushing... "Teme!" He couldn't believe that Sasuke would kill him. Even though it wasn't the first time, or even the second time he said he would kill him... Even with that intense killing intent, Naruto still couldn't believe him! "You're actually going to kill me?"

"..." Sasuke didn't say anything. What could he say to Naruto when his only answer would have been yes?

But even though Sasuke didn't say that yes, Naruto still heard it.

"Then..."

"_**You're going to kill him?"**_

_'Urusai, baka kitsune!'_

"_**Stop grinning like a happy idiot and kill him!"**_

And Naruto had to admit that the Kyuubi was right. He _was_ grinning like an idiot. He was so happy that Sasuke wanted to kill him that he hadn't thought past this point. Even though he didn't want to die...even though he wanted to stay by Sasuke's side just a little longer...even though he knew that he would have to fight Sasuke...and even though he knew that he had to lose if he truly wanted to leave Sasuke, he was still happy.

He was happy all those other times too. At Shuumatsu no Tani, when Sasuke told him that he wanted to kill him... In that ruined compound where he found Sasuke again, when he told him again that he wanted to kill him, Naruto was happy. Because he never forgot Sasuke's words. He never forgot that he was Sasuke's best friend. He never forgot that they had that bond, stronger than any that Sasuke could create with anyone else. That was why Sasuke wanted to kill him...because killing him had value. Because killing him still had value.

Because killing him meant that he was important to him, Naruto was happy.

"**_Stop grinning, kozo!"_** The Kyuubi understood better than his idiotic jinchuuriki. This was a serious situation. Even though he didn't care about his vessel, he still didn't want to die. Naruto shouldn't be happy about this!

But Naruto couldn't stop himself. Even as Sasuke tore screams of agony from his throat, Naruto couldn't even begin to stop himself. He had decided to leave Sasuke. He wasn't returning, even if Sasuke had to kill him.

**T**o Sasuke, those words were his last hope. He wished that Naruto had said something else, anything else, anything but, "Then do it." After that, there was no turning back. Naruto had given him no other choice. No matter what he said, Naruto wasn't going to change his mind. The blond shinobi was still as stubborn as he was three years ago. He understood Naruto's dense stubbornness more than he could know. No one else would have continued to chase him for three years. No one.

That was why it was so frustrating! Naruto was an idiot! He was such an idiot that he had to kill him. He just had to!

But he couldn't attack him. It wasn't because he didn't try, but physical attacks bounced off the Kyuubi's thick chakra, or they were entangled in it and dissolved into that massive crimson. And long ranged ninjutsu missed. The Kyuubi evaded the attacks, even though Naruto obviously wasn't doing anything, and wasn't planning to do anything, to stop him.

_'Dobe!'_ The more Sasuke attacked him, the more annoyed he became. Naruto did nothing to stop him. It was all the Kyuubi. Naruto's emotionless eyes stared at him as if he knew that he wouldn't die, as if he could defeat him without lifting a single kunai. _'Fight me, chikusho!'_ Because if Naruto hit him, at least he would know that Naruto still wanted to be by his side. Because if Naruto hit him, he would know that Naruto still hadn't given up on him.

The normal Naruto would have shouted at him. By now, the normal Naruto would have called him teme, and he would have confidently told him that he couldn't kill him, because he refused to die before he became the Hokage. He wasn't going to die because he still had his promise to fulfil. He had promised to wait for him, had promised to give him a chance to be with him, and had promised so many other promises that he had to keep. Because that was his nindo.

But Sasuke knew that he wasn't going to hear it. As soon as he saw that bloody kunai in Naruto's hand, he knew that Naruto had made up his mind. That idiot had thrown away his dreams so that he could achieve his.

Naruto was an idiot who couldn't even think about his own dreams.

He deserved to die!

Sasuke's mind cleared of everything as he plunged his fist into the Kyuubi's chest. And for a moment, he grabbed onto Naruto's arm. "K-kuso!" But after that moment, Sasuke wrenched his empty hand back, shaking burned skin into the air as he waved the Kyuubi's acidic chakra from his nerves. He felt that pain cut through his skin, down to his bones, but even though it was painful, he had to do it. There was no point in fighting the Kyuubi when he was aiming for Naruto. And for a moment, he had caught him, even though that red chakra had burned him. Even though his entire hand was numb.

Attacking with his bare hands was out of the question.

He had to protect his hands—and his body—from that monstrous chakra. "Dobe."

He wasn't going to lose to Naruto!

Chidori nagashi rose around his body, snapping at the coils of red chakra waving in the air. He needed to kill Naruto quickly, before he could amass more of the Kyuubi's chakra. "This time, you'll die." He rose a fistful of dense chidori.

"Using the same technique again, teme?" Naruto's voice spoke slowly, without malice. "Did you think that weak chidori could kill me?" Because at Shuumatsu no Tani, Sasuke had already tried to kill him using that technique. Plunging chidori into his chest, Sasuke still failed to kill him. Even though he could still hear Sasuke's arrogantly confident words through the cries of those hundred lamenting birds, they both knew the flaw of that attack.

If Sasuke didn't kill him right away, his defense would be left open for the Kyuubi's counterattack.

"No." Sasuke still remembered that fight. For three years, it was his last memory of Naruto. Of course, he remembered. The Kyuubi wouldn't allow his jinchuuriki to die so easily, not with a simple attack like that. Already, the second tail was forming from that chakra. At least Orochimaru was useful for _something_. Without that weak Sannin, he would never have known about Naruto's other forms. And he also knew that he didn't have any time left. He had to hit him before another tail formed. There was no time to experiment with new techniques. "Naruto..." He had missed before. This time, he wouldn't miss his heart. All he needed was one hit.

"**_Urusai, kozo!"_** The Kyuubi plunged his serrated claws through the chidori nagashi coiling around Sasuke, digging thick fingers into the dark-haired shinobi's shoulder. If he allowed this monster to talk to his jinchuuriki for much longer, they _could_ begin cooperating with each other.

"I'm not talking to you," Sasuke said coldly as his hand pulled the screeching blue kusanagi from its sheath. "Kuso kitsune."

"**_Don't touch Naruto!"_** The Kyuubi's twin tails whipped across Sasuke's vision as he reached across the treetops for a spare branch.

But before the kitsune could pull Naruto away, Sasuke's sword plunged into the jinchuuriki's chest, pinning him to the branch below them. The dark-haired chuunin's dark red eyes tore across the Kyuubi's chakra for a moment, threatening the bijuu with all of his cursed Uchiha chakra. "I'll kill him." Formlessness undulated across the Kyuubi's body as Sasuke's dark chakra rippled through him. "_You_ stay out of my way!" The Kyuubi flinched as Sasuke placed his hand on his small two-tailed form.

"Teme!" Naruto shouted bloodily as the chidori nagashi extended, slashing through the Kyuubi's body. The Kyuubi screamed painfully before dissolving into the safety of his sealed cage. All that was left was Naruto.

"..." The Kyuubi was gone. That was part one of his plan. Without the Kyuubi, Naruto's super-healing ability was gone. Even the flesh forming around the kusanagi blade had stopped.

"Sasuke..." Naruto stared up at the lightless red eyes looking down at him, and he couldn't ignore the memory that had filled his head the moment Sasuke hit him. The words that the Kyuubi said that day, that day he saw Sasuke again after two and a half years, crept into his mind. _'Hitotsu...itsute oku. Na...ruto...wa...korosu na. Kou...kai...suru...koto ni...'_ Even as the Kyuubi's phantom words told him not the kill Sasuke, Naruto's instincts wrenched the kusanagi from his chest. Pain stabbed through his body, but not as much as the pain of remembering the Kyuubi's words. If only he didn' tremember them... If only he didn't remember at that moment...

Sasuke can't kill him! He can't let Sasuke kill him!

Before Sasuke could take the kusanagi into his hand again, Naruto flipped backwards, leaping away from the dark-haired shinobi. He had thought dying would be easier, but it was harder than Naruto had thought. If he wanted to die, Sasuke definitely couldn't be the one to kill him. If Sasuke killed him, he would regret it, as much as he would regret killing Sasuke.

"Kuso Sasuke! Leave me alone!" Blood-tinged words choked from Naruto's mouth. If he wanted to die, he had to do it himself, or someone had to kill him, but it couldn't be Sasuke! If he wanted Sasuke to forget about him, he couldn't let Sasuke kill him. _'Tajuu kage bunshin no jutsu!'_

Smoke enveloped the treetops, blinding Sasuke for a moment before the cold morning wind cleared the canopy, revealing a few dozen Naruto bunshin. "Che!" If Naruto thought that a few kage bunshin could deceive his sharingan, he hadn't beaten it into Naruto's head hard enough. "That won't work on me!" His red eyes spun over the wave of blond heads as his kusanagi slashed through the copies. Within the moment, over half the bunshin were gone.

Naruto could probably have made more bunshin than that. If he still had the Kyuubi's chakra to draw from, Naruto could probably have hidden himself better. But with the few distractions left, Sasuke saw Naruto clearly. Somehow, Naruto had managed to run to the edge of the crowd, and he was still running...toward a flickering rasengan.

"Naruto!" As he watched Naruto, there was only one thought in Sasuke's mind. He couldn't let Naruto leave him. He couldn't let Naruto kill himself. No one abandoned him. No one.

His body flew forwards, across the branch toward Naruto. Even as Naruto's many bunshin jumped on his back, tried to pull him backwards, and tried to restrain him, he continued forwards. _'You can't leave me!'_ When the bunshin touched his arms, lightning sprouted from his arms and destroyed them. _'I won't let you!'_ When the bunshin held his legs, lightning sprouted from his legs and destroyed them. _'Naruto!'_ When they hugged his body, lightning sprouted from his back. And before he realized it, the chidori nagashi was tearing across the trees toward the real Naruto.

Sasuke could only stare, as if his eyes didn't really see it. Even as tentacles of chidori nagashi wrapped around Naruto, there was only the desire to stop him. With the Kyuubi still suppressed, Naruto could do nothing to stop him. Naruto could do nothing to escape.

Sasuke's red eyes still didn't see, even as Naruto fell to the ground, even as his leg flew into the air.

And Naruto's painful scream crashed across the sky.

**S**omewhere deep in her heart, Sakura understood what she had done. For all she knew, Sasori was gone. He was already leaving...and she had failed to stop him. The next time she saw him, he could be...he could have become someone she couldn't even recognize. And that was almost too painful to admit. But she couldn't ignore it. No one could make Naruto shout like that, no one except Sasuke. That was why she knew they were there. They were both there. Just beyond those trees. Even though they should be happily together in Konoha, they were just beyond—

_'Bones?'_ Sakura jumped over the skeleton, but the handle of the giant sword by its side tripped her, and she fell...into a familiar clearing.

The scent of burning leaves and the hot breath washed through her memories, freezing the blood in her body. She hadn't been here for over a year, but this place was carved deep into her memory, as clearly as if she had been here only a moment ago. This horrible place... She could never forget it. This was the origin of all her nightmares. The last time she was here, Sasuke and Naruto had died. Now she was back again. She couldn't stop thinking that they would die again.

And the thought only screamed louder as Sasuke's shout drew her eyes into the treetops. "Naruto!"

Her brain numbed as Naruto's blood rained over her.

With the last of the rain, the first drops of red melted into the infinitely clear water covering her body. At first, she had thought it was the same pure water that had been falling since a week ago, but the next drops clung thickly to her and wouldn't let go. It stiffened on her skin, and congealed around her fingertips as she smeared her fingers across her arms. Only when she lifted her hands and looked at them did she realize that... _'Naruto's bleeding!'_ ...it was Naruto's blood. The sticky red glued to her fingers was Naruto's blood!

There wasn't even the thought that it could be Sasuke. With Naruto's scream earlier, it could only be her blond former teammate. It couldn't be! But there was no way to know for sure, not without looking up. As she stared at her bloodied hands, she tried to stop herself. She didn't want to look up and see that she was wrong. But her eyes...they wandered up the sides of the tree, moved along the branch...

_'No.'_ An orange limb teetered on the edge of the thick branch overhead. _'He couldn't.'_ Her brain refused to believe it. "Sasuke-kun!" As Sasuke lifted Naruto's body above him... As her eyes focussed entirely on the blood pouring from where Naruto's leg should be... As she rejected everything that could lead to Sasuke's killing Naruto...again... "Someone..." She still believed that something like this couldn't happen, because Sasuke loved Naruto, because Sasuke wouldn't just kill him like this, because... "Someone, help!"

Because even Sasuke would understand that he would regret killing someone he loved.

"No, you can't stop him, Sakura-san." And Sakura almost jumped at the sudden words. Sai was standing right next to her the whole time. "If this is what he wants, he won't regret choosing to—"

Sakura smacked him. It was the first time she punched Sai, but she couldn't stop herself. He didn't even know what he was saying. "You don't even understand how much he loves him!" She had known all this time, for such a long time. It was enough to tear through her existence! "How can you let them kill each other!"

_'Understand?'_ As Sai watched Sakura's tears flow over her cheeks, he wondered if she truly understood. As he watched him, he could clearly feel his emotions. "Naruto-kun—"

"I'm not talking about Naruto!"

Sai blinked confusedly at Sakura. _'It's not?'_ As far as he was concerned, this was all about Naruto. "It's what Naruto-kun wants, Sakura-san. Should we really stop him? Can we?" It was impossible to change the mind of someone that stubborn. They had tried enough to know that they couldn't stop Naruto once he had decided to do something. "If he kills him, then—"

"Shannaro!" Sakura grabbed Sai's collar, wrenching his head around so that he could see what was happening clearly. "What has those books taught you!" She couldn't believe that Sai didn't understand. "You've been standing here the whole time. Can't you see that Sasuke-kun doesn't want to kill him!" Even as she held the ANBU-nin above the ground, her arms were already shaking. Before her strength could drain from her body, she dropped him. "Baka." Someone who had the strength to stop them should stop them. Even as she looked up at the canopy, she knew that she had used too much of her chakra to jump up there and pull them apart. Her muscles were already at their limit, just from standing. She had used so much chakra in order to extend her strength and escape from Neji. She had to run so fast, just to catch up to Sasori, and she had used even more chakra running here. Her eyes were already blurring with weariness. Her head was already spinning from exhaustion. "You have to stop them!" Before it was too late, Sai had to do something. "You have to—"

Overhead, the rumble of the trees muffled Sakura's words. Naruto had managed to hit Sasuke, and the black-haired shinobi had smashed against the large trunk behind him. Leaves...the newly grown leaves of the last year fluttered down. And Sakura couldn't find the words to speak anymore. As red spread across the treetops, she lost all words. More than anything, she had wanted to avoid the sight of these burning trees again. The burning trees... They were the omen of their deaths. If Sasuke was truly serious about killing Naruto, he would have trapped him in that cage of fire by now. Like he had trapped Itachi a year ago.

And as bright red engulfed the green leaves overhead, she had thought Sasuke had finally trapped Naruto within that fire trap.

**A**s his leg flew away from him, Naruto knew that he had failed...again. It could only happen when he was with Sasuke. No matter how hard he tried, or how much he improved, he couldn't win. That was why this time, he couldn't lose. Sasuke couldn't get away again! _'Kuso kitsune! Get out of that cage and give me your chakra!'_ He shouted at the bijuu, even as his body smacked against the thick branch beneath him.

Naruto had no illusions about Sasuke. That killing intent was unmistakeable. If he did nothing, Sasuke would definitely kill him. And even though he knew that he would never achieve his dreams of becoming Hokage if he died, he still wanted to do it. He had already accepted it over a year ago, when he knew he was going to die. He didn't know how long Sasuke had suffered alone. Before he could summon him, there were so many days and weeks that he didn't know about. When Sasuke left Konoha, there were so many years that they had lost. That was why, if it would make Sasuke's life that much easier, he would throw everything away.

But Sasuke still couldn't be the one to kill him! If he did it, if Sasuke did it, if Sasuke killed him, he would regret it forever. If Sasuke killed him, Sasuke would never be able to forget him. And that wasn't what Naruto wanted.

"_Get out here, baka kitsune!" He shouted through the tall barred doors at the gigantic fox. Beyond the seal keeping the fox inside, the large form shivered, as if shifting around to look at him. In the darkness beyond those gates, the glint of sharp eyes made Naruto shiver._

"_Kuso," Naruto growled as his bloody fists pulled at the bars, as if bending them could drag the Kyuubi's chakra from within that dark cell. "You have to help me!" If the Kyuubi didn't help him, Sasuke would kill him. "Do you want to die!"_

_And the Kyuubi's cynical laugh drove coldness through Naruto's body. **"Die? You're threatening me when you're trying to kill me?"** Whether he did anything or not, Naruto would still die, and he would be forced to die with him. He couldn't care less about how it would affect the cursed Uchiha shinobi holding Naruto by the neck._

"_But—"_

"_**I said I DON'T CARE!"**_

_Naruto blinked as the words sank in. Slowly, his strength drained from the tight fists clenching the thick bars of the Kyuubi's cage. The Kyuubi had never refused to help him before. After Jiraiya dropped him from that canyon all those years ago, when he first summoned the Kyuubi's chakra, the Kyuubi had always listened obediently to him. He had always yielded the chakra he wanted. The Kyuubi had always agreed to help him...even though the kitsune would probably never admit that he wanted to help him. And even though this time, Sasuke had pushed the Kyuubi back into his cage and dispelled that red chakra, Naruto had thought that he would be able to threaten him out, that he would be able to draw the bijuu out with simple shouts and threats, as he had always done. But it didn't work._

_"Souka." There was no way to stop Sasuke like this. "Then..." His hands dropped from the tall door standing between him and the bijuu. _"Sasuke, gomen."

But Naruto's words were lost within his fist, and the rumble of Sasuke's body hitting the tree trunk far behind him.

And Naruto's painful tears were lost...

_...as he tore the seal from the cage door..._

...and the Kyuubi's chakra engulfed him.

"_**Oroka na kozo."**_

**End Chapter 38**

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Fire's English tidbits for those who care:

Continuing with the four spelling rules, with words ending with a silent "e," the "e" is dropped before endings beginning with a vowel, but of course, there are exceptions to the rule. The first exception is to prevent confusion with other words like "dye" becomes "dyeing" so as not to confuse "dye" as in "dyeing your hair another colour" with "die" which becomes "dying" as in "dying results in death;" or "singe" which becomes "singeing" meaning to burn slightly, not to be confused with "sing" which becomes "singing." I'm sure everyone knows what singing is. --;; The second exception is after the soft pronunciations of "c" and "g" before suffixes beginning with "a" and "o." The soft pronunciation of "c" is as in "cent" not as in "cat," and "g" as in "gem" not as in "gate." For example, words like "notice" becomes "noticeable" not "noticable," and words like "outrage" becomes "outrageous" not "outragous." Third, words ending in "ue" drop the silent "e" before consonants but words ending in "oe" retain the "e" before "ing" endings. For example, "argue" becomes "argument" and "arguing" and "pursue" becomes "pursual" and "pursuing;" and "shoe" becomes "shoeing," or "hoe" becomes "hoeing." Then there are the exceptions only pertaining to British and Canadian rules. First, the "e" at the end of "dge" words can be kept or dropped in Canadian English. For example, "abridge" becomes "abridgement" in the British practice, but it becomes "abridgment" in American practice; or "judge" becomes "judgement" in British, but "judgment" in American. Second, the "e" may be kept when adding "able" to words ending in a stressed syllable, but it's mainly a British practice. The North American tendency is to drop the "e." So you might see both "liveable" and "livable," or "sizeable" and sizable." --;; And third―which doesn't really apply to American spelling since "re" words are spelled with "er" endings in American―the root words ending in "re" like centre (ie. center in American) still drops the "e." So "centre" becomes "centring" but "center" becomes "centering." And for those of you who have decided to stick to one side or the other, remember to be consistent. --;; It's difficult for editors and readers when you're using "centre" and "center" in the same story, or acknowledgment (American spelling) and judgement (British spelling) in the same story. --;; I wonder how many people will notice?

Fire's babbling:

Itachi: (musing over the title of the section) I'm changing that to Itachi's babbling.

Sasuke: Urusai, bakayarou! Fire will be back!

Sakura: Naruto's going to die!

Kyuubi: (grinning) ...

Naruto: Itachi, did you write that? (pointing to the tidbit)

Itachi: Fire left it in the notes.

Naruto: There are notes? (confused)

Itachi: Yes. Now, I'm leaving.

Sasuke: Those of you still reviewing, review. I'll send them to Fire.

Sakura: Fire's still unconscious.

Sasuke: Not if we bring Kisame along.

Kisame: I'm not going.

Sasuke: You're coming! (grabs Kisame and pulls him away)

Kisame: No! I said I'm not going!

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	40. Thirty nine: Sky

Sasuke: Are you still here? Stop reading it! Itachi―

Itachi: I'm in charge. Stop turning away readers. (pushes Sasuke out the window)

Naruto: I'm going to die?

Sasuke: Not if I can stop it!

Itachi: You can't.

Sasuke: Kuso! You can't tell me what I can and can't do!

Itachi: Before you start flaming Fire, let me remind you all that this storyline was created when the manga was still at chapter 285, and the first chapter was uploaded at chapter 288/289.

Sasuke: Comprehensible timeline? That means it was conceived two years ago, right after Tobi was introduced. This story should have ended a long time ago! (frustrated)

Tobi: Do you want the reviews? (holding the Big Bag of Reviews)

Itachi: I'll send them to Fire in the hospital.

Sasuke: (angry) Or we can go through them.

Itachi: I'll send them to Fire.

Naruto: I want to read them! (grabs a review from Tobi) Okay, the first one says update soon. (looks at Itachi)

Itachi: ...

Sasuke: We're trying. Fire is in the hospital and Itachi keeps trying to steal Naruto away! (glares at Itachi)

Naruto: And Fire's still managing to work six days a week. Don't forget that!

Sasori: Character development? (reading)

Sakura: (laughs) What character?

Sasuke: Fire said that Sasori has a very important role in the story, even though it's not too big. --;; I can't give anything away. Fire will hug me.

Kisame: A horrible punishment. Fire burns like acidic fire. My skin is still charred. (steams)

Sasuke: All I can say is wait until the next book, and you'll see just how important he is. (mumbling to himself) I don't get it. I've read that book. He's not really... (continues mumbling)

Itachi: Ahem, Tsuchikage-san, again, Naruto's going to die.

Sasuke: Did that person call Fire insane?

Itachi: Fire has self-proclaimed insanity. Look at the bottom of the Userpage. It's right there, and don't forget how many times that crazy person has said it in these author's notes. --;;

Tobi: Now? (holding up chapter 39)

Itachi: (narrows eyes at Tobi) ...

Sasuke: Yes. Just make _him_ shut up. (scowls at Itachi)

Itachi: (nods permission to Tobi) ...

Tobi: --;; Hopefully, I don't get killed for this. (pulls chapter 39 onto the screen)

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Warning: Not reading the warnings or author's notes may cause you confusion when reading the story, and/or yelling from the writer, the co-writer(s) and any or all of the muses.

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**Japanese term warning** for those of you not familiar with Japanese terms, please click on the link to the userpage and look it up in the glossary. All the words are there even though I really need to update that glossary. --;;

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**Chapter 39: Sky**

_**'I** lack the confidence to leave you alone. Because you chose to love me, now I can't live without you. The sky under which those dreams existed had vanished the moment you appeared. I can't remember that blue. I can't remember the vision of that distant dream. The wind carried them away when your arms wrapped around me. The sky I stood under was not your sky. But you knew. You already knew, even while knowing the pain you've inflicted on me, those selfish eyes and those selfish hands won't let go. I can still see myself reflected in them. Gratefully, I'm still reflected in them. Damn selfish bastard, now I can only see your brillant sky.'_

**E**ven standing so far away, Sasori saw the Kyuubi's demonic red chakra rising into the air, clouding the air as surely as a great tornado in the distance, and he wondered if he could find Sakura in time. Even with no other sign that the pink-haired medic-nin was in danger, all he had to do was feel the growing power of that bijuu to know that if he didn't find her soon, she would die. That monster would eat her. That monster would crush her. The loud crunch of trees beneath those shining red paws foreshadowed the crunch of Sakura's bones.

He ran toward them before he could delay any longer. _'Sakura!'_ He needed to—

But before he realized it, Sakura was already saved. "Kakashi?" Beneath the falling branches, with leaves flying through the air, within that suffocating red chakra, Kakashi was holding Sakura. She was already safe. Before he had thought to save her, Kakashi had already done it.

**T**he message was a surprise. When he read the note from the Hokage, he had thought it was a joke, but she would never joke about something like that. At first, Kakashi wanted to reject the request. Even though Naruto was strong, and even though Naruto had become strong enough to stand with him as an equal—not just as a kid who would rush in and get himself killed—Naruto was still recovering. That blond shinobi still hadn't adjusted to living again. As strange as it was to say about the Kyuubi jinchuuriki, Naruto was still fragile, and running after an S-ranked criminal wasn't for someone meant to be resting in bed.

That was why he left him with Sai. If Naruto was with Sai, he felt that his former student wouldn't be in as much danger as being by himself. Besides, Kakashi could submerge himself in this reconnaissance mission if he was alone. He could forget about everything that had happened in Konoha if he was alone. He could pretend that everything was just a nightmare if he was alone.

_'Is this why you do this too, Jiraiya-sama?'_ Perhaps, that was why all three Sannin left Konoha, so they could pretend that none of those nightmares actually happened.

That was when he felt it, a killing intent so large, so familiar that it could only belong to one person: Uchiha Sasuke. It was the same massive killing intent he had felt long ago, on the rooftop of Konoha Hospital. Sasuke was trying to kill Naruto again, and that meant...

_'Sakura!'_

He didn't know how he knew. Perhaps it was because of the memory of that horrific event of that day years ago which made him think of Sakura, or perhaps it was because he was thinking too much about her, but somehow, he knew that Sakura was in danger. Even though it was impossible for her to be here, so far from Konoha, he knew that she was in danger! He had to go back. He had to—

The air quaked as the first of the Kyuubi's chakra waved over him, knocking him back, even as he tried to push through it. Through the red haze clouding his vision, he saw unmistakeably Sakura. Even if he was blind, he would be able to see her standing there, but... _'Why is she just staring at that chakra!'_ A whirlwind of red and purple chakra thrashed through the treetops, and Sakura was only standing by the roots of those great trees, watching them. "Sakura!" He grabbed her before the two chakra could engulf her. _'We need to get out of here!'_

There wasn't time to think of where to go. There was only one way out of that chakra vortex. Behind him, Sasuke and Naruto's corrosive chakra boiled over the trees, filling the air and suffocating them. Kakashi could only run ahead. In his arms, Sakura's limp body sent worried screams through his mind. She was strong enough to withstand this chakra! She had enough strength to run away on her own! But she was still lying immobile against his chest.

Irrational thoughts ravaged his mind as he pulled Sakura away from the increasing storm of chakra behind him, but he couldn't stop. They were still too close. The sandy air was still blazing with killing intent. Long moments had passed before they were far enough away from the two cursed chakra to stop and look at Sakura. Even though his entire body burned with pain, he forced himself to make sure Sakura was okay. But she was still unconscious.

"Kakashi?"

And Sasori's exhausted face was suddenly staring at him.

The Suna-nukenin wanted to say something. Kakashi saw it clearly, even in the middle of swirling evil chakra and screaming tortured trees, but before either shinobi could say anything, a great ink beast leapt between them, tearing everyone away before the Kyuubi's tails uprooted everything where they were standing. "Kakashi-sensei, I think we should focus on the Kyuubi instead of arguing at this time," Sai said as he dragged everyone away. They had almost put Sakura in danger.

But the problem on all three minds was how they could stop a bijuu so strong that even Yondaime Hokage died sealing it.

**H**e had been awake for a long time, since long before the first light of morning glowed across the eastern sky, but sunlight was already reflecting brightly from the clouds beyond his window. Even with the curtains drawn, his eyes stung with their brightness. _'Kuso onna.'_ Sakura had gotten away again. _'She doesn't understand the meaning of sitting still!'_ He couldn't fail again. If he let her escape in that condition, the Hokage would never forgive him. He had to bring her back to Konoha!

But he couldn't even move. The attack that Sakura had used was like having all the chakra knocked out of his body. It was the same as if he had sealed all his tenketsu. Even though he had been trying to move his body for a while, he still couldn't move his arms or legs effectively. There was some twitching, and that was all, but he knew that he should be able to move them. When the medic-nin carried him into the hospital, the Hokage had come to see him—and to reprimand him for his failure, even though she hadn't verbally blamed him for losing Sakura again—and she had healed all the broken bones and bruised muscles in his body...to the best of her ability. But there was nothing she could do for his chakra circulatory system. Sakura had sliced through his entire body—including his chakra circulatory system—with that chakra-filled kick. Even though it wasn't the same as sealing his tenketsu, his chakra was still moving shakily through his body. With such shaky control, he could never move the way he wanted to move, even if he could move.

_'Kuso!'_ Shakily, his byakugan pressed forward until he could see the interrupted flow of chakra within his body. He saw it. He really saw the uneven patches of chakra. _'I won't let her get away!'_ He refused to be defeated again. Not by Sakura. Not by a chuunin. His pride couldn't handle it!

His hands shook with wavering precision as he pressed painfully on the tenketsu on his shoulders, his torso, and his legs, redirecting the flow of chakra, and slowly stabilizing his movement. Steadily, strength returned to his arms, and the ability to move followed.

"Hyuuga-taichou!" The ANBU-nin standing by his door had turned as soon as Neji stumbled into the hall. "You can't—"

"Don't touch me!" Before the ANBU could stop him, Neji pushed him away with a chakra-filled hand, knocking the shinobi unconscious. He couldn't let anyone stop him, even if he was an ANBU. If it was any other time, he would probably have been punished for attacking an ANBU, but this was perhaps the only time he could do it...since Neji—like the ANBU—was also under the Hokage's direct command. Since at this time, he was in command of all the ANBU in this hospital.

Neji had to trust that he had done the right thing.

He couldn't let Sakrua leave, not without trying to stop her. He couldn't let her leave, not after failing to protect her twice. He couldn't let her leave, not while knowing that she had definitely run after that Suna-nukenin!

His byakugan had seen everything. Even though Sakura didn't know why she had run out of her room, Neji saw the reason. He had seen Sasori sitting beyond the hospital walls. He had seen the gaze of Sasori's desert brown eyes calling her. When Sakura escaped from him, even if she didn't know why she wanted to leave, Neji knew that she was chasing Sasori's phantom, even though the Suna-nin was scraping to escape.

That was why he had to stop her. He didn't know why. It wasn't for his pride. It wasn't for the fact that he was assigned to protect her, and failed. It wasn't because he wanted to defeat her, after having been bitterly defeated by Sakura twice. He just couldn't let her leave with Sasori. If she had wanted to leave Konoha, it wouldn't have annoyed him as much as knowing that she had left with that nukenin!

It just wasn't right.

So, he grabbed everything that could be of use and rushed as quickly as possible over the fading trail Sakura had left behind. Even with excruciating pain screaming through his body, he could at least manage to get there before she could leave the thick forest surrounding Konoha, before it was too late to locate her.

**A**s soon as the first wave of the Kyuubi's chakra exploded from Naruto's body, Sasuke finally understood how much of an idiot that jinchuuriki was. _'He actually unsealed that monster!'_ He knew that Naruto had said he wanted to die, but he didn't know that he was serious! What happened to his dreams? "You said you wanted to be Hokage, kuso baka!" If Naruto died again, he would never become Hokage!

But Sasuke had larger problems. With the first wave of corrosive chakra pouring from Naruto's body as he was standing so close to him, Sasuke's skin was already burning away. Already, that dense wall of swirling red chakra had smacked against the barrier of his electric chidori nagashi. Already, the nagashi was cracking.

And the chakra was seeping through.

"Hn." The Kyuubi was strong. He admitted that the Kyuubi was strong, but he wasn't going to let anything, not even the nine-tailed bijuu to stand between him and Naruto!

With the same amount of effort as it took to blink, Sasuke released the cursed seal across his skin, sending new chakra through his body, but even though his strength increased, the chidori nagashi wasn't holding against the Kyuubi's intensifying chakra. The Kyuubi was strong, stronger than he had thought it would be, stronger than when he first saw him. Sasuke definitely couldn't just suppress the kitsune with his sharingan like he had done before. He had no choice. As he burst into the dark skin of his second seal form, Sasuke only narrowly escaped the Kyuubi's initial release, and the bijuu still hadn't attacked him yet!

Sasuke's red eyes gazed steadily into the large youma, through the swirl of reds into the Kyuubi's body. Anyone else wouldn't see him, but with the sharingan, Sasuke saw Naruto clearly. Removing the seal would kill him. They always knew that. _'Naruto, you knew too!'_ It was cheating. It was cheating; that was why it was so annoying. Sasuke didn't understand. He just didn't understand why Naruto would want to leave him!

And for a moment, his killing intent wavered.

And for that moment, his concentration wavered.

And the dark purple chakra constricting the initial movements of the Kyuubi wavered.

It was the moment that the Kyuubi was waiting for. The kitsune lunged forward, quickly clamping onto the Uchiha's body, but Sasuke already saw it coming. He threw himself back, in time to avoid death, but not enough to escape completely. The kitsune's sharp teeth caught against the dark skin of his shoulder, tearing scraps of flesh and blood into the air as the Uchiha fell to the ground below.

Sasuke rolled for a while before smashing into bare bones and a black cloak. Red clouds shone through the grey morning light as he looked up. _'Akatsuki?'_ He had thought that the clearing looked familiar, but it wasn't until he saw Samehada that he realized where he was.

He and Naruto had died here.

But Sasuke didn't have time to reminisce about the past or think about the dark memories welling up in his mind. Overhead, the Kyuubi's irritated growl drew his attention, right before he re-sheathed the Kusanagi and pulled Samehada from the ground.

He didn't have time to think. He remembered this sword's abilities, and it would be useful if he could use it to push the Kyuubi's chakra back, because he certainly couldn't do it on his own. With all nine tails, the Kyuubi was nine times more terrifying than when he saw Shuukaku.

But taking hold of Samehada was a mistake that almost killed him.

The sword was hungrier than he had thought. After lying inert for a year, if it wasn't so hungry, the sword probably wouldn't have allowed him to live. But Samehada had no choice. No one had picked it up, and it was starving for chakra. Anyone's chakra. It just never thought that it would come across a feast quite like the Kyuubi, or an appetizer like the dense chakra of chidori nagashi.

Sasuke's defensive barrier of shrieking lightning vanished as soon as he touched the sword, and the Kyuubi's stifling chakra smacked against his face, suffocating him and burning the skin off his cheeks. "Kuso!" He should have known that Samehada would eat his chakra as soon as he touched it. _'Then how...'_ He couldn't get close to the Kyuubi if his arms burned off before they could swing the sword.

His hands gripped tightly around Samehada. Nothing using this chakra-eating sword was out of the question. Without Samehada, it would be impossible to push the Kyuubi back. Without the seal, the Kyuubi was even stronger than the last time he saw him, and the bijuu was still growing stronger; the youma hadn't fully emerged from his prison yet.

_'How did that blue bastard use ninjutsu at the same time!'_ Sasuke still clearly remembered his fight with Kisame. Somehow, he had managed to hold Samehada at the same time. _'How—'_ The answer was something that only his mind—and maybe Naruto's idiotic brain—could see.

It was difficult. It was difficult because Samehada wouldn't stop eating his chakra. It was easy for the sword. All it had to do was wait for him to mould just a little bit of chakra, enough to take hold of him, and being in the state that he was in, with the Kyuubi thrashing overhead, Sasuke couldn't let go of the protective barrier of chidori nagashi yet. It was the only way of knowing if his plan succeeded.

_'It's not working!' _If it was Naruto, the blond shinobi would have done it by now. With endless chakra, that idiot could have done it! He could have satisfied this demon sword's hunger and still have enough chakra left for an array of ninjutsu. But Sasuke wasn't Naruto, and he didn't have an endless supply of chakra.

Not even Kisame could have had enough chakra to do it.

_'Then how did he do it?'_ Sasuke tried to think of something, anything that would explain it. But there was nothing. _'How!'_

Sasuke quickly hurled Samehada around, slicing through a tail as it swung toward him.

And he heard it.

"_**Chakra!"**_

Sasuke heard Samehada's voice.

"_**Chakra!"**_

_Sasuke looked around the empty space. Suddenly, there was no one and nothing there. 'Where am I?' He was more angry than confused. He just couldn't disappear somewhere. Even at that moment, the Kyuubi was slowly killing Naruto! He couldn't just leave that idiot alone. He couldn't just stand in this world within his mind and let Naruto die!_

_But before he could return to reality... **"You!"** ...Samehada's crazed voice pulled Sasuke back. The sword's sharp scales choked him, dragging him back to the black hole draining the entirety of his chakra. **"Give me your chakra!"**_

_Sasuke glared coldly at the sword. "Don't touch me." The dark-haired shinobi wrenched Samehada's unrelenting hunger away before the sword could devour him any more than it already had. He never said that he would feed it. He never said that he would give it any of his chakra. "..." It was only a sword. He didn't have to listen to it. IT listened to HIM!_

_But Samehada only laughed...an insane laugh that could only come out of the mouths of lunatics. **"Let go?"** The sword's sharp teeth sank deeper into Sasuke's hands. **"That's MY chakra!"** It had no intention of letting go._

In the midst of an attack from the Kyuubi, Sasuke calmly pulled the Kusanagi from its sheath and slid the edge of its sharp blade against the back of his arm, drawing enough blood to gain Samehada's attention.

"_If you won't let go, I'll make you let go." He would cut off his arm. For Naruto, he would cut off his arm again. He would find a way to save him, even without Samehada! As far as Sasuke was concerned, "You're only a tool," to get what he wanted. "I'm your master, and you'll do as I say."_

_Somewhat shaken, the stubborn sword took a step back, and laughed. **"A tool?"** It mused the thought as it watched the dark-haired shinobi. **"You're MY tool!"** No one since Kisame had managed to threaten it this much. Kisame had never tried to use it before. The Kiri-nukenin understood that Samehada only wanted chakra and that it would be cooperative if he would only feed it. That was why their partnership was so effortless. Kisame liked to kill people, and Samehada liked to eat their chakra. It was perfect._

_But Sasuke didn't see it that way. As soon as it heard those words, Samehada knew that as soon as the dark-haired chuunin had what he wanted, he would toss Samehada aside. If something like that was going to happen, it didn't care if it had to sit in the barren chakra-less ground for another year. Samehada refused to acknowledge him!_

"_Hn." Sasuke didn't even try to hide the cold smile spreading across his face at the word, "Tool?" He was Uchiha Sasuke. Other people didn't use him; HE used other people! Objects like Samehada were no exception. "Then you want to starve?" His anger had almost taken hold of him, but after listening to Samehada's ranting, he understood this simpleminded sword. "You don't want the Kyuubi's chakra?" All it cared about was chakra. Sasuke could use that. "I'll give you chakra..."_

_That temptation was all he needed to absorb Samehada's ability._

_'...and in return, you'll do what I want!'_

Sasuke's grey hand tightened around Samehada's hilt as he re-sheathed the Kusanagi. He had truly thought that he would lose his arm again. If he hadn't realized how simpleminded Samehada was... If he hadn't regained his cool, he really would have torn off his arm.

"Kuso dobe!" As he turned again toward the mass of roiling red chakra, Sasuke's chest pounded with painful emotion. Such strong desires hadn't formed within him for three years, not since leaving Naruto behind. He had wanted to leave all of it behind, but Naruto always pulled him back to his humanity. That was why, "You can't die unless I kill you!" Dark fury erupted from Sasuke's dense chakra as he shouted. He knew that Naruto heard him. Frustration gnawed away his patience until his raw emotions stood against the brittle air. He was trying too hard. He hadn't even tried this hard to kill Itachi! "I won't let you die, Naruto!"

The loud screech of chidori nagashi rushed over Sasuke's body before coiling around his arm and concentrating around Samehada. At the edge of his mind, he felt the sword nibbling on his chakra, but at least he wasn't sucking it all away like earlier. He could compensate for the little bits of chidori vanishing into those scales.

But more importantly, now he could...

"Yarou!" Sasuke swung the heavy broadsword toward the Kyuubi. The bijuu was so big that even with out any experience with a sword like Samehada, Sasuke couldn't miss. As the edge of Samehada's scales grazed across the Kyuubi's red fur, he couldn't stop his hands. He had to cut away the Kyuubi. He had to cut away the Kyuubi until there was only Naruto left!

Because if he didn't do it, the Kyuubi would surely consume him.

_'Naruto!'_ He could think of nothing else. As he dug through the bijuu's chakra to the jinchuuriki at its core, his mind could only shout, _'Naruto!'_ Even as Samehada's elated screams of _**"Chakra!"**_ tore through his consciousness, Sasuke raged obsessively toward his goal.

He had to stop Naruto or die in the process, because he couldn't even imagine living in a world without that obnoxious shinobi.

**I**f possible, Sakura would have liked to stay unconscious for a while longer. The world within her mind was so much calmer, so much more peaceful than the waking world, than the real world, but even unconscious, she still couldn't escape. Sasuke's shout tore loudly through her mind, and that was all it took for her to gain enough consciousness, enough to throw Kakashi away and jump out of his arms. "Sasuke-kun!" She knew that he was nearby. And Naruto... Naruto was there too. The red chakra tainted the suffocating scenery; she barely saw beyond her hands, but she saw Sasuke clearly in the distance, standing in front of the Kyuubi with a wide sword in one hand and his kusanagi in the other. "Sasuke-kun!"

But the world fell away as soon as she saw it, as soon as she heard it. "Kuso dobe! You can't die unless I kill you!"

It was impossible. Sasuke was fighting the Kyuubi. Even if he was strong, the dark-haired shinobi shouldn't be strong enough to fight such a monster! But she was wrong. Sasuke had found a way to fight him. The tip of the broadsword in Sasuke's hands slid across the Kyuubi's chest, parting enough flesh and chakra for Sasuke to...

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura ran forwards. She was so close to him that she could almost touch him. She even reached out to stop him, but as her hands closed around empty air, as she turned to follow him into the mass of suffocating red chakra, the opening resealed. "Sasuke-kun!" Her hands tightened into fists, smashing against the Kyuubi's tall chest, trying to find a crack of what had already vanished. _'Sasuke-kun!'_ She had to rescue Sasuke, but she could only continue pounding against the bijuu's thick skin. Not once did she notice the Kyuubi's growing irritation. Not once did she hear the frantic wails of the Kyuubi overhead. Not once did she notice notice the agitated kitsune's thrashing as purple chakra burned away its body from the inside. "Sasuke—"

"Sakura!" And suddenly, she was pressed against someone's frantic chest, and they were falling. "What are you thinking!" Sasori's voice shouted in her ears. He had shouted her name as soon as she woke up, as soon as she ran there. He had tried to stop her since he first saw her fist smash against the Kyuubi's fierce chakra. He couldn't believe that Sakura—that _his_ Sakura—had done something like that. He refused to believe that she had almost died just now; the Kyuubi had almost stepped on her. If he believed it, the conclusion he had come to, the man who had appeared as soon as she touched him, the new person he had become would collapse.

He was Sasori. Even if the world changed around him, even if his thoughts, his beliefs, and his heart changed, he was still himself. He was the Sasori who had killed Sandaime Kazekage. He was the Sasori who had fought Sakura and Chiyo-baasan. He was still that person, and he was still the man Sakura loved. And she would love him again!

"That's the Kyuubi!"

Before she realized how important he was to her, he refused to let her die.

"Are you insane!"

Before she realized how important he was to her, he refused to let her look at anyone else.

"Kuso onna!"

"Sa..." Sakura knew as soon as she heard his voice that it was Sasori, but that was the exact reason why her entire body shirked his touch. "Sasuke-kun!" She couldn't just let herself fall with him; she couldn't just let him rescue her when Sasuke needed her! "He's still in that monster!" She tore herself from Sasori's arms and launched herself from him, propelling herself back at the Kyuubi.

But before she could reach the bijuu, a barrage of senbon flew past her and pierced through the Kyuubi. The kitsune shrieked horrifically, falling back as more metal needles attacked the newly exposed sides of its body.

And the fox actually fell to the ground.

**End Chapter 39**

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Fire's English tidbits for those who care:

This is the final spelling rule. I thought we'd never get here! Okay, the final spelling rule is when to double the consonants. The basic rule is to double the consonant if the last consonant in the word is preceded by a single vowel and the stress of the word is on the syllable before the suffix after the suffix has been added. For example, defer has the vowel "e" preceding the consonant "r" and after the suffix is added―like "ing" to "deferring" or "ed" to "deferred"―the stress is on the "e." But if the suffix begins with a consonant, the consonant isn't doubled. For example, if the suffix "ment" is added, defer becomes "deferment." And if the word ends with two consonants, or if the word has two vowels preceding the last consonant, the last consonant isn't doubled. For example, farm which becomes "farming" or "farmer," and seek becomes "seeking" or "seeker" without doubling the last consonant. The last part of the rule include words ending with "x" which never double because "x" is considered a double consonant. So box becomes "boxing" and "boxer" and not "boxxing" or "boxxer." --;; As for the exceptions, the first is to double the "l" in words ending in "l" even if the word isn't stressed on the final syllable before the suffix, as in "excellence." Then, there are the differences between American and British spellings. The two kinds of words that fall into this category of exceptions are verbs ending in "l" preceded by a single vowel where the final syllable is unstressed, and the second kind of words are those ending in double "l." For the first type of words, the American spelling doesn't double the "l" while the British spelling doubles the "l." So, travel becomes "traveling" in American and "travelling" in British. For the second type of words, the American spelling doubles the "l" while the British spelling drops the "l." Don't think that I'm confused. I consulted books for this. --;; So, words ending in two "l" like fulfill becomes "fulfilment" in British while it becomes "fulfillment" in American. As for the unstressed final "p" in words like rap and kidnap, British spelling doubles the consonant―rapped and kidnapped―while American spelling keeps the single "p." The last exception is that the consonants aren't doubled for any suffix beginning with "i" except for "ing" and "ish." So sit becomes sitting, and red becomes reddish, but solid becomes solidify and rapid becomes rapidity.

Itachi's babbling:

Sasuke: What the...?

Itachi: ...

Naruto: I want Fire back!

Itachi: (hands Naruto ramen) ...

Naruto: (eating the ramen) Okay, now I don't care.

Sasuke: Do something worthy of being the writer, bakayarou!

Itachi: Does anyone want to know the theory behind the Kyuubi's release, the effect it has on the jinchuuriki, the role of a seal, and the Uchiha chakra? Send all inquiries about the relationship of the Kyuubi, the jinchuuriki , the seal and the Uchiha chakra to Fire no Kumo at Konoha Hospital. Hurry, there aren't many chapters left.

Kisame: (laughs) He has no idea how it works!

Sasuke: ...

Sakura: Naruto's not dead yet?

Itachi: That is all. (moves to close the window)

Sakura: Tell me that I'm going to end up with Sasuke-kun! Don't close the window yet!

Sasori: You're ending up with me. Don't fight it.

Sakura: (devastated) No!

Itachi: --;; (closes the window)

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	41. Forty: The Me Called Myself

Sasuke: (severely beating Tobi) ...

Tobi: (getting severely beaten) Sasuke-sama, I didn't do anything wr―!

Itachi: The readers are here.

Sasuke: (freezes and stares at the audience) He deserved it. (kicks Tobi out of the window) He sent Fire the reviews.

Itachi: I ordered him to do it.

Sasuke: (glaring at Itachi) ...

Itachi: It's proof that I'm more suitable as a co-writer than you.

Tobi: (crawling back into the screen) Fire said that―

Sasuke: I don't want to hear it! (grabs Tobi and throws him out of the window)

Sasori: (finishing the last of chapter 39) The Kyuubi was defeated by senbon?

Naruto: Sugoooii!

Itachi: ...

Sasuke: Don't ask me! I didn't write it! It was all Fire!

Itachi: Teges-san asked about the Kyuubi.

Sasuke: (looks at Tobi) ...

Tobi: (climbing back into the window) Fire-sama needs time to write it. --;; Please don't hurt me.

Sasuke: Just load the chapter.

Tobi: Hai! (slaps chapter 40 quickly onto the screen)

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A disclaimer from Itachi: if Fire no Kumo was Masashi-sensei... You don't want Fire no Kumo to be Masashi-sensei. --;; I doubt Masashi-sensei could be so obsessed with Kubo-sensei. That's too scary to comprehend.

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Disclaimer: the attack used by Neji was created by Fire no Kumo. The name was decided upon after hours of contemplation. For an explanation of the attack or an explanation of the name of the attack, please send your request with a review, and an explanation will be posted at the end of the next chapter.

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Double connotation note: when Sakura says, "onegai," there is a double meaning. Onegai can mean please, but it can also be taken as "negai" which is wish. In Japan, girls and women typically add "o" to the beginning of some nouns. In this sense, the word can be taken as "please," or as "wish" which would be loosely translated as "a favour." So, the correct translation for the scene should be "a favour, please." --;; Get it?

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**Chapter 40: The Me Called Myself**

_**'I** can't remember where we were before we were here. I can't remember what kind of person I was before I met you. If I'm still that person, only you can tell me, because the world has changed since then, and the world will continue to change. Everything around us, and everything that we are, all of it will become different from what it was yesterday, from what it was the day before, and from what it was years before. But even if you leave me, even if your heart changes, I will always be standing behind you, waiting. I will still be waiting to hear those words from our distant past. I want to be with you. I want to hear it, even if it's a lie. I'll believe your words because I know somewhere deep inside you, it's true. Within that cold heart, you still remember the day I told you that I'll always want to be with you. I still want to be with you, so don't leave me.'_

**N**eji had run out of the hospital so quickly, without even thinking about how to find Sakura. He had run into the forest before he even realized he had no idea where she was. That kunoichi could be anywhere; she was certainly out of the range of his byakugan. Frustrated with himself, he had stopped amongst the empty trees. He really had no idea where she was, and he was about to turn back. The logical thing to do was go back.

Then he saw her.

At first, he only saw Sakura. The tiny pink-haired form was at the edge of his vision range, and he was so focussed on her that even with the byakugan, he only saw the kunoichi. Then, he saw the Kyuubi's monstrous form billowing in front of her.

As soon as he saw it, he thought that it was only an illusion made of chakra, like the vision he had seen within Naruto during their fight at their first chuunin exam years ago, but he already knew, as his eyes focussed on the solid limbs, on the distinctly thick red fur that it wasn't an illusion. This was the real Kyuubi.

At that moment, Neji knew that Sakura had truly gone insane. She was standing in front of the Kyuubi! _'What is that girl thinking!'_ He rushed forwards. If he hurried, he could save her in time. If he hurried, he could get her away before she hurt herself!

He didn't know how the Kyuubi broke through his seal, but Neji just couldn't ignore it. Sakura was in danger, and after her, there was Konoha. The first thing that bijuu would do was destroy the village, if only for vengeance. He had to stop it!

Neji's arms reacted before he realized he didn't have any real weapons with him. Senbon. He had grabbed bags of senbon with him when he left the hospital. It was the only thing he could find at the time. That was a minor setback, but Neji's mind was fast enough to correct his mistake. Senbon were all he needed to stop the Kyuubi.

_'Senbon.'_ There was only one thing he could do with senbon. It was something only _he_ could do. If he wanted to stop the Kyuubi, it was something he had to do. He couldn't fail!

The Hyuuga jounin's hands tightened around the needles. This wasn't the time to test a new technique―especially a technique that he had created just a moment ago―but he didn't have time to think it through. He didn't have the accuracy that Tenten did, and he didn't have the experience that she had with chakra strings, but he knew where the Kyuubi's tenketsu should be. Even if it was a youma, it was still a fox. That was all he needed to stop it.

_'Hakkeshou...'_

If the Kyuubi was a normal fox, all he had to do was seal those tenketsu. The problem was that the Kyuubi wasn't a normal fox. The Kyuubi didn't have tenketsu. The Kyuubi didn't need tenketsu when its entire body was made of chakra. So, there was no way to immobilize it that way. That was why he wasn't going to even try sealing its nonexistent tenketsu. The senbon were for something more important than that.

Foreign purple chakra slowly diffused through the Kyuubi's red chakra. Neji's byakugan saw it swirling brilliantly. If he left it alone, eventually, the Kyuubi's chakra would have expelled that poisonous chakra. If it wasn't growing, that purple chakra probably wouldn't have been a threat at all.

But Neji was going to make sure that it was a threat. He had to make sure that the Kyuubi couldn't move far enough to hurt anyone.

_'Senbon no kaiten!'_

Neji spun, shooting senbon across the surface of the Kyuubi's body. If he didn't have three hundred sixty degree vision, he wouldn't have been able to pinpoint exactly where he wanted each senbon. If he didn't have the ability to extract chakra from every part of his body, he wouldn't have been able to control that many senbon at once. Before he landed, he was already finished. Even as his eyes strained with the throbbing precision of each senbon, the Kyuubi was already faltering.

"Sakura!" Neji turned to Sakura, even as his chakra drilled into the Kyuubi's body far enough to draw more violent purple chakra from its source. Although he was concentrating on the Kyuubi, he had watched Sakura long enough to see Sasori pull her out of the way, but he wasn't going to let the Suna-nukenin take her away. Neji grabbed the pink-haired medic-nin's arm before he could lose her again. This time, she wasn't getting awa―

"Don't touch her!" Sasori's arm smashed against Neji's head, sending the Hyuuga jounin flying through the air, stopping briefly only as he smashed across the trees, and as the Kyuubi thrashed in pain from the Hyuuga's attack, Neji only continued to fly further away. Sasori didn't want anyone to look at Sakura, not at that moment. That exquisite fear...he didn't want anyone but him to see it. He didn't want anyone but him to be able to evoke that kind of pure fear, even though he already knew that it wasn't him she was fearing. "Sakura..." Sasori turned back to the Kunoichi―it had only been a moment, had only taken a moment to knock Neji away―but she had already turned away...

...toward Sasuke.

For a brief moment, Sasori had thought he had finally caught her. For a moment, her eyes were looking at him, and her warm gaze had finally fallen on him, even though he was shouting at her. But that fragile moment had already vanished quickly into the chakra-tainted wind.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura saw him before he even appeared, and after a hesitant moment, she managed to utter, "Naruto!" As she ran forwards, as Sasuke dark-skinned form burst through the Kyuubi's body with the unconscious jinchuuriki in his arms, the immobilized bijuu's chakra continued to leak from Naruto's body. At that moment, Sakura had thought they needed her. Finally, she could help them. Finally, they needed her.

But the blood drained from her body, freezing her in place as she heard Sasuke's frantic, "Naruto!" As his painful voice reached her, dark hands of the torment of knowing that she wasn't needed rose from the ground and tore all her strength from her body. And she could only watch as Sasuke's words continued to cut through her. "Kuso dobe!"

Sasuke's bloodied hands trembled as they released the blond shinobi. He had forgotten that Naruto was injured. He had forgotten that he had tried to kill him. _'I tried to kill Naruto,'_ he told himself, but he almost couldn't believe it. If he could, if he had the time, he would have hit himself. He had thought that the wounds would heal. Like all the times before, when he had hurt Naruto, the wounds should have healed. _'Heal, chikusho!'_ All those times he had tried to kill Naruto, the blood always evaporated from his body.

This time shouldn't be any different!

But it was different. It was different because Naruto was different. Sasuke saw it as his shaking hands pressed desperately against the jinchuuriki's gushing wounds, as new blood coated his fingers. Naruto was different. Naruto was different because of that burning red chakra leaking from his body. The Kyuubi wasn't protecting him anymore. The Kyuubi didn't have a _reason_ to protect him anymore.

"Kuso!" He lifted sticky red hands to catch the tendrils of the bijuu's chakra, the wisps of colour fading into the air, carried away by the wind, but they drifted through his fingers, across the expanse of forest into the Kyuubi's shrieking body. There was nothing he could do. Even as Sasuke's sharingan stared into the red youma's billowing body, as he tried to force that chakra to dissipate, he already saw that it wasn't working. There was no effect. When he had done it before, the Kyuubi was subdued by Yondaime's seal. Now, there was nothing holding it back.

The Kyuubi was coming out, and Naruto was going to die.

And there was nothing he could do to stop it.

_'No, but there's something...'_ All he had to do was stop the chakra from coming out. "Samehada! Bakayarou, help me!" Desperate, Sasuke lifted the sword over Naruto. The whole time, even as he panicked over the blond shinobi's imminent death, that bloodthirsty sword was shouting in his head, relentlessly screaming for a taste of that red chakra. "Here's your chance. Stop the Kyuubi from coming out!" Frantic almost to the point of insanity, Sasuke pressed the sheaf of grey scales against Naruto's bleeding chest. "Save Naruto!"

_**'Chakra!'**_Elated, Samehada drained the Kyuubi's chakra from around the jinchuuriki, but even as the Kyuubi's chakra thinned, as the Kyuubi howled defeatedly behind Sasuke, Naruto's face only grew paler. Blood continued gushing from his chest. Naruto wasn't healing. Samehada wasn't saving Naruto.

Samehada was killing him.

But Sasuke was too crazed to realize it.

"Stop..." Slowly, Sakura broke out of her paralysis. "Stop it, Sasuke-kun!" As she watched, as she absorbed everything, she saw clearly that... "Naruto's going to―"

But before Sakura could finish, Naruto's tormented shout erupted with the frustrated growl of the Kyuubi. _**"Uchiha-gaki!" **_ He resisted the corroding pain within his body long enough to realize the cause. _**"Get away from Naruto!"**_

But Sasuke wasn't listening. If the Kyuubi was shouting at him instead of trying to stop him, his plan must be working!

"_**I said..."**_ The bijuu's thoughts broke for a moment as his body flickered. _'Kuso gaki!'_ That cursed Uchiha was trying to pull him back into the jinchuuriki. _'That sword!'_ Even as his vision bled purple, the Kyuubi saw Samehada clearly against Naruto's bloody body. The kitsune had yet to fully emerge from its jinchuuriki. If Naruto died before he could separate himself...

He had to stop him!

**S**asori didn't know what to think. As he turned toward Sakura, she was already looking at them. "Sasuke-kun!" She was always looking at them. "Naruto!" She was always looking away, and all he could do was stand behind her. All he could do was watch her walk further away. His feet couldn't move. He couldn't even take that one step which would carry him to her side, which would carry him to the place where she could see him again. All he could do was stop Neji from taking her away.

He tried to convince himself that it was for her. He had only wanted to give Sakura the ability to do what she wanted. He only wanted to stop Neji from intruding. Because it seemed as if Sakura really would never remember him... Because at least, her heart should feel the freedom his longed for when he looked at her... Because for Sasuke, she shouldn't feel the same heavy chains of emotion that he felt for her... Because standing behind her was the only thing he could do...

...he tried to convince himself that it was only for her happiness.

And because he had nowhere else to return, no home other than Sakura, and no life left to resume, because there was only this one path left, he was ready to die for her.

But that wasn't true. None of it was for Sakura's sake.

Sasori was ready to fight. As soon as he saw Neji fly away from him, as soon as he saw Neji crashing into the trees, he had expected the Hyuuga-jounin to come running back at him. Even though he knew that he wasn't quite the same S-ranked shinobi that he was before, he was ready. Even though he only had two puppets―and one of them was confiscated by the Hokage, so he truly only had one puppet left―and no skills to rely on, he had to hold Neji back as long as he could. If Neji caught her, he would take her back to Konoha. If Neji caught her...

The truth was, Sasori only wanted to stay by Sakura's side for a little while longer, even if she didn't realize that he was there. He only wanted to look at her, to hear her voice, and to know that she was doing something he could never blame her for doing. Because Sakura was only doing what Sakura would do.

The truth was, he was only doing it for himself, and not for Sakura. So, it was okay that Neji killed him. He could never love Sakura selflessly. He wasn't a selfless person. So, the least he could do was give Sakura a fragment of the happiness he could never truly inspire in her.

But Neji didn't come to him. As soon as the Konoha-jounin hit those trees, he bounced toward the bijuu overhead. Neji was fighting the Kyuubi. Neji didn't even look at him.

That was his chance. Sasori could have taken that moment to escape. He could have grabbed Sakura and run. If he had run at that moment, no one would have been able to come after them, but as he looked at Sakura, he couldn't even begin to think of how to tear her away from her teammates.

And he didn't have the time to thinking about how to begin. Above, the Kyuubi's angry growl filled the air as more senbon landed across the bijuu's pelt, pinning flesh and fur against skin. _'Kuso!'_ Sasori sprang forwards as soon as he saw the monstrous youma. The bijuu had fallen back with the Hyuuga-jounin's last attack, uprooting trees and hurling brown clouds of dirt through the air, but that wasn't what caused Sasori to run forwards. _'I'm not going to make it!'_ He pulled out the only scroll he owned and summoned the only puppet he had. "Che―!" The puppet flew forward in time to intercept a wave of the Kyuubi's nine tails...

...and shattered into splinters.

Now, he had nothing left. Sasori had nothing left with which to protect Sakura. He only had the one puppet, and now, that puppet was lying in pieces on the forest floor. "Sakura!" There was nothing more he could do to protect her. "Sakura, wake up!" He needed her to move. He needed to make her leave. The Kyuubi would kill everyone here if it had the chance!

"_**Uchiha Sasuke!"**_ The bijuu snarled as the excruciating clamp of shark's teeth tore through his belly. No one else would dare think to stop him. No one else would believe it was even possible! **_"Kuso Uchiha!"_**

The redhead prepared himself to jump at the Kyuubi. Perhaps there was just a small chance that he could slow down that monster if he could attach chakra strings to it. It was probably impossible, but he could tie up the bijuu. He could do it if he tried!

Because he had to try something! Sakura wasn't moving. Sakura would definitely die!

But before Sasori could launch himself at the giant kitsune, the pink-haired kunoichi spoke. "Stop..." And the hope of moving her welled up again. "Stop it..." As that dark-haired shinobi pressed Samehada firmly against Naruto's chest, Sakura found the will to step toward her teammates once again. "Sasuke-kun!" It was the same nightmare from a year ago, all over again. "Naruto's going to―"

With a tormented shout as painful as Naruto's wordless cry, the Kyuubi clawed through another shower of senbon toward the unconscious jinchuuriki and the dark-haired shinobi kneeling by his side. _**"Uchiha-gaki!"**_ The asphyxiating pain of being eaten alive was enough to turn the kitsune's every thought to the prison he was abandoning. Senbon waved from over half his body, but hi didn't care. They were only painful. Soon, such tiny shuriken wouldn't affect him at all. Not as long as he fully left that jinchuuriki's body. Even that purple chakra... _**"Get away from Naruto!"**_ But the Uchiha-shinobi wasn't listening. _**"I said..."**_ The Kyuubi's voice broke and disappeared for a moment as the stream of chakra flowing from the jinchuuriki wavered, but his eyes were already fixed on the trio before him. As his body reset, the Kyuubi snapped forward, attempting to tear off the heads of the two Konoha-nin standing by his jinchuuriki.

But before the kitsune could reach Sakura, Sasori threw himself forward. It wasn't too late to save her. The Suna-nin refused to let himself be distracted by the kunoichi. If he did, she would die, and he just couldn't let that happen.

Then, there was only pain.

**W**ith that loud snarl, and that gigantic killing intent, Sakura knew that the Kyuubi was coming even before he attacked. She was trained by Tsunade to never be hit in battle. It didn't matter if her opponent was a regular shinobi, an S-ranked criminal, or the Kyuubi. She wasn't just going to stand and let anyone hit her! _'Now!'_ Sakura turned, just as the Kyuubi lunged at her, but as she raised a chakra-infused fist to knock the bijuu back, a blur of red hair and thick cloak jumped in front of her. "Sasori?" She only stopped her hand in time to miss him, just as the Kyuubi's teeth tore into his chest. "Sasori!" The nukenin fell into her arms as the rest of the Kyuubi's red chakra evaporated from the bleeding gash.

With her heart pounding loudly in her ears, Sakura could only stare at the bleeding redhead lying against her chest. Her instinct was to shout at him, to keep him conscious, but her words choked in her throat. She couldn't do it. In her mind, he was still Akasuna no Sasori. In her mind, he was still an evil puppet. And in her mind, she was still thinking of Sasuke. She still wanted to be with Sasuke. She still wanted to run to him.

_'But if that's true...'_

Even though she wanted to run to Sasuke, she couldn't move. Even though the reappeared Kyuubi was thrashing desperately around them, even though the Kyuubi would surely kill Sasuke as soon as he had the chance, and even though she heard Sasuke's voice shouting behind her, Sakura couldn't move again. Her leaded arms had rusted in place from the blood and rain. "Baka." She could only utter the word softly through the strange pain filling her chest.

"Useless woman," Sasori breathed agonizingly. Everything he was doing, and everything he had done up to that point was for Sakura, and still, she couldn't see him. In her eyes, as he looked into her face, the desire to leave him still reflected back. He was dying, and all she saw―all she could see―was the nukenin who had tried to kill her.

But she slapped him. With all the shaky strength she had left in her chakra-less body, she had hit him. As stinging pain spread across his face, Sasori could only stare shocked at Sakura's tear-soaked face. "Hontou ni," she sniffed as blinking tears fell across his cheek, "baka."

She was angry, and she was frustrated, and she was scared, and she had no idea why she was feeling all these things. Sakura wanted to hit him for jumping in front of her, but her hands wouldn't move. It was painful just watching him bleed, and she wanted to heal him. But she didn't have enough chakra left to heal Sasori. Not to heal Sasori...

...and still heed the shouting of Sasuke in the background.

She had wanted to love Sasuke forever. When she was younger, she had thought that she would always love him, and she still believed it. She still wanted to love Sasuke forever. That was why she couldn't just ignore him. Even as she looked at Sasori, all she heard was the sound of Sasuke's words in her ears. "Sakura!" He was shouting for her. "Get over here and save Naruto!" Even though she saw Sasori's lips move, she still couldn't hear him.

"Sasori, gomen." She just couldn't ignore Sasuke. She had to save Naruto!

But before she could leave his side, Sasori stopped her. As she turned to leave him, his hand clasped softly around her wrist. "Souka." He could barely breathe. Already, the morning sky was darkening. Already, all his strength was draining from his body, but his hand was still holding onto Sakura. She didn't pull away. He was still holding onto her.

Sakura was the only thing worth giving his life for. She was the only thing he had wanted to sacrifice himself for. When he was still living in Suna, he had never found anything to live for, nothing to be passionate about, and nothing to care about. He never thought that he would find it. Before Sakura, Sasori had never cared about anything.

But she was still going to leave him. "You'd rather save your rival." The bitterness of his heart seeped into his words. "How noble of you."

Sasori had wanted Sakura to cry quietly for him as he died. H had wanted to die a memorable death for her, so that she could remember him as a man who had loved her, not just as an evil puppet who had wanted to kill her. He had wanted her to sob over his corpse and regret doubting his feelings for her. But Sakura wasn't the kind of girl who would do that. Even in his last moments, he was still chasing after her. He was still searching for a crack in that armoured heart, any weakness through which he could slip through and reach her.

Because he was selfish, he wanted to hurt her. He wanted her to feel sadness. He wanted her to cry in pain. He wanted her heart to ache so much that she couldn't stand, that she couldn't see, that she couldn't breathe. He wanted her to cry until her throat bled. He wanted her to cry until she couldn't move anymore. Because he knew that she would never love him again, he wanted her to feel something, anything for him, even if it was pain.

"I'm not noble." Sakura spoke, even as her eyes locked onto Sasuke's frantic form. Those black eyes, that pale skin, that soft hair framing his face, all belonged to someone else, but she still couldn't thinking about him. She still wanted to be with him, even though she knew that he loved someone else. "Sasori," her voice cracked as she spoke, "onegai." She still wanted to be with him, but if she ever wanted to change, she had to do it now. She had already lost him once before to Naruto, and then, she had lost him again to death. She wasn't ready then. She didn't have time to prepare then. But now, she was ready.

She wasn't going.

Sasuke's voice was still loud in her ears as she turned back to Sasori. Red blood covered his chest. White bone poked through torn skin. She was amazed that he could even breathe, and was even more amazed that he was speaking with parts of his lungs exposed to plain sight. "Sasori," she whispered as she placed glowing green hands over the pools of red oozing up under the pressure of her touch. If she spoke any louder, she would hear Sasuke's shouting. If she said anything else, she would forget what she had to do, and she would run to Sasuke.

"Don't worry, Sakura. I'm not leaving." Sasori knew that she was using him, as surely as he was using her. The pain he had wanted to see on her face wasn't created by him. She was still thinking of Sasuke. Even as he raised his hands to cover her ears, to block Sasuke's words, he only wanted Sakura for himself; it wasn't to help her. He just didn't want Sakura to hear Sasuke's words. He only wanted her to see him. He only wanted her words to reach him. He only wanted her to exist for him. But as surely as he was using Sakura to satisfy his greed, he knew that she was using him to forget Sasuke. "I'll always be here." And he couldn't accept that. "You should..." Even if he died, he didn't want Sakura to force herself to be with him. "...go."

But Sakura's hands remained on his chest. She was denying him even a self-sacrificing death.

"Kuso onna, go!"

"Shut up and let me heal you!" Angry, Sakura shouted as her hands pressed firmly against his chest. He probably couldn't understand how she felt. In fact, she was certain that he didn't understand. If he did, he wouldn't ask her to leave. All she had wanted was to be by Sasuke's side. All she thought she wanted was to be by Sasuke's side. But if that was true, she could have pulled herself away. She could have left Sasori to die.

The truth was that she only wanted a reason to stay by Sasori's side. She only wanted an excuse to help him. Even though she knew that the burning sensation spreading across her skin must be the cursed seal, she didn't stop. Even though the searing pain penetrating her bones must be the secondary infection spreading into her body as her skin darkened, as her hair lengthened, but even then, she didn't stop, because truthfully, she probably cared more about Sasori than she was willing to admit. Because truthfully, she didn't have enough chakra left to heal anyone. She was forcing herself so much that she couldn't even see Sasori's face anymore. The world had already begun spinning around her.

But she couldn't let him know. _'Just let me stay conscious long enough to save him.'_ She couldn't let Sasori know that she was trying so hard to help him―even to the point of using the cursed seal's chakra―because if Sasori knew, he would know that she was really a foolish woman, a blind a stupid woman who allowed herself to be blinded by her emotions. A useless shinobi. Then, he would kill her.

And she would never see him again.

"Sakura!" All the pain in Sasori's body vanished as Sakura collapsed across his body.

He had already known that she was too weak to do it. From the bruises on her body, he knew that she had fought to get out of that hospital. From how quickly she had run after him, he knew that she had used so much chakra to catch him. From the shakiness of her hands on his chest, he knew the effort she had exerted to heal him.

But it wasn't until the darkness lifted from his vision that he saw the cursed seal on her body. "Sakura!" He didn't want to lose her. That was why he had to cling to life, even if he had to hurt her. "Kuso!" But in his desperation, he had forgotten how badly he could hurt her. "Sakura!" He still didn't want to lose her. That was why she had to cling to life, even if he had to hurt her.

Even if he had to make her into a living puppet!

**End Chapter 40**

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Fire's English tidbits for those who care:

Weird facts! Yay! I haven't posted one of these in a long time! Anyway, I was watching a friend do her English homework―she's learning English―and she was confused about when to use a form of "to do" and when to use a form of "to be." So, he's the simple explanation for those of you who have never thought of it before, or if you're an ESL student and have problem with this same thing, read on! You "are" nouns. You "do" actions. Simple enough? So you say "Did Naruto eat vegetables?" but you say "Was Naruto eating vegetables?" Eating is something you do. So any conjugation of "to eat" uses "to do" as its modifier. But for those of you who don't know, if you add "ing" the the end of a verb, it either becomes a gerund which always uses "to be" as its modifier, or it becomes a noun, as with "swimming." It's the name of a sport. In the same way that swimming can be a noun, eating can also be a noun, like "Eating is okay; overeating is bad." --;; I can't think of a better example, but you get the idea.

Itachi's babbling:

Sakura: (punches Sasori in the head) I don't want to be a puppet! I'll kill myself!

Sasori: (holding his throbbing head) But Sakura, you'll be a _living_ puppet, like I was! Not a hitokugu―

Sakura: I said no!

Naruto: (shouting enthusiastically) Don't worry, Sakura-chan! I'll rescue y―

Sasuke: (interrupts) You're dying.

Naruto: (depressed) Oh yeah.

Itachi: (pats Naruto on the head) ...

Sai: (confused) Um...where are Kakashi and I? I thought were were supposed to be in this scene.

Itachi: (closes the window) ...

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